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Journal of Physics B Atomic and Molecular Physics

On the inadequacy of the momentum-translation approximation: multiphoton ionization of atomic hydrogen

A. Rachman, G Laplanche

Published Apr 21, 1975• 2 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The cross section for multiphoton ionization of hydrogen is computed using the momentum translation method (MTA) in the cases of linearly and circularly polarized light, alternatively. Extended numerical comparison is made with well-established results obtained from the Nth-order time-dependent perturbation theory in the weak intensity limit. The MTA does not reproduce the values given by perturbation theory and considerable differences are observed. Higher order iterations than the lower one are introduced and an analysis of the leading terms of the development is made: at weak intensities the zeroth-order term that defines the MTA cancels with higher order terms and the final result obtained after making (N-1 iterations is none other than the well-known transition amplitude deduced from standard perturbation theory, defined by the remaining terms of the last iteration after mutual cancellation with lower-order ones. According to the results obtained in this work, it is not possible to affirm that the MTA is adequate to calculate atomic multiphoton ionization cross sections.

DOI
10.1088/0022-3700/8/6/009

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Journal of Physics B Atomic and Molecular Physics•Oct 1, 1972•11 citations
The cross section for multiphoton ionization of hydrogen is computed using the momentum translation method (MTA) in the cases of linearly and circularly polarized light, alternatively. Extended numerical comparison is made with well-established results obtained from the Nth-order time-dependent perturbation theory in the weak intensity limit. The MTA does not reproduce the values given by perturbation theory and considerable differences are observed. Higher order iterations than the lower one are introduced and an analysis of the leading terms of the development is made: at weak intensities the zeroth-order term that defines the MTA cancels with higher order terms and the final result obtained after making (N-1 iterations is none other than the well-known transition amplitude deduced from standard perturbation theory, defined by the remaining terms of the last iteration after mutual cancellation with lower-order ones. According to the results obtained in this work, it is not possible to affirm that the MTA is adequate to calculate atomic multiphoton ionization cross sections.
The infinite summations over the complete set of unperturbed atomic states appearing in the Nth-order time-dependent perturbation theory are performed using the Green's function formalism. In order to test the method extended calculations of the cross section for two- and three-photon ionization for atomic hydrogen are made and numerical comparison is shown with the values obtained by different methods. The resonant character of the process is made evident since the poles of the radial part of the Green's function represent the actual energy spectrum of the atom. The relevant transition matrix elements are written in closed form and then computed exactly without averaging over the intermediate states. The cross sections vanish for circularly polarized light near some energies which explains the form of the cross sections for circularly and linearly polarized light.
The infinite summations over the complete set of unperturbed atomic states appearing in the NNNth-order perturbation theory for multiphoton ionization are performed using the Dalgarno-Lewis method. The relevant transition matrix elements are written in a closed integral form exhibiting all the analytic properties of the amplitude as a function of incident photon energy. The cross sections for two- and three-photon ionization for atomic hydrogen are calculated for both linearly and circularly polarized light with a wide range of photon energy spectrum including the near resonance, and numerical comparison is made with the values obtained by different methods.
The Keldysh approximation to treat the multiphoton ionization of atoms is reconsidered. It is shown that, if one consistently uses the hypothesis under which the approximation should be valid (essentially, that of a weak, short-range binding potential), a Keldysh-like term results as an approximation to the first term of a uniformly convergent series in powers of the binding potential. No cancellation occurs when higher-order terms are taken into account. This result allows one to consider the Keldysh approximation as a well-defined theoretical model, without implying, however, that it is adequate to describe multiphoton ionization of real atoms.