Atom photoionization by the superposition of a fundamental field and its second harmonic is considered. The finite analytical expressions for the photoionization probability are obtained using the adiabatic approximation. They demonstrate that the photoelectron angular distribution has a polar symmetry when the electrical field strength has a maximal polar asymmetry and the distribution is asymmetrical when the field is symmetrical. A strict proof of the polar symmetry of the photoionization probability in the case of the electrical field with maximal asymmetry is deduced using the Keldysh-Faisal-Reiss theories. The obtained results are in agreement with the experimental data available.
The density-matrix theory, based on Dirac's relativistic equation, is applied for studying the entanglement between the photoelectron and residual ion in the course of the photoionization of atoms and ions. In particular, emphasis is placed on deriving the final-state density matrix of the overall system ``
photoion+electron,'' including interelectronic effects and the higher multipoles of the radiation field. This final-state density matrix enables one immediately to analyze the change of entanglement as a function of the energy, angle and the polarization of the incoming light. Detailed computations have been carried out for the
5s photoionization of neutral strontium, leading to a photoion in a
5s2S Jf=1∕2 level. It is found that the photoion-electron entanglement decreases significantly near the ionization threshold and that, in general, it depends on both the photon energy and angle. The possibility to extract photoion-electron pairs with a well-defined degree of entanglement may have far-reaching consequences for quantum information and elsewhere.
We report the measurement of the absolute photoionization cross section for the
6P3/2 state of cesium. Cross sections were determined by measuring the photoionization rate of cesium atoms confined in a magneto-optical trap. The photoionization rate was measured by monitoring the decay of trap fluorescence during exposure to ionizing laser radiation. The measurements were made in the wavelength range 457.9 to 501.7 nm using several lines from an Ar-ion laser. Our results are compared to other experimental measurements as well as to existing theories.