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New Journal of Physics

Strong field ionized electron trajectories driven by squeezed light

Alex Schimmoller, Alexandra S. Landsman

Published May 14, 2026• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Abstract In atomic strong field ionization, a photoelectron’s motion is largely determined by the laser pulse’s expected electric field, as well as the atomic potential. However, when the ionization is performed by squeezed light, the photon’s quantum statistics can modify these dynamics. In this work, we generalize the classical trajectory Monte–Carlo technique to study strong field ionization by squeezed states of light. We find that electrons driven by phase-squeezed pulses exhibit increases in longitudinal momentum consistent with what is expected from the field statistics. Meanwhile, the transverse momentum distribution shows varying influence of ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ rescattering off the Coulomb potential, and the proportion of electrons recaptured as Rydberg states decreases monotonically with the amount of squeezed light applied. This work demonstrates the added experimental control over ultrafast electron dynamics achievable by tuning light’s quantum statistics, as well as the essential role of the atomic potential in strong field ionization.

DOI
10.1088/1367-2630/ae6df1

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Abstract In atomic strong field ionization, a photoelectron’s motion is largely determined by the laser pulse’s expected electric field, as well as the atomic potential. However, when the ionization is performed by squeezed light, the photon’s quantum statistics can modify these dynamics. In this work, we generalize the classical trajectory Monte–Carlo technique to study strong field ionization by squeezed states of light. We find that electrons driven by phase-squeezed pulses exhibit increases in longitudinal momentum consistent with what is expected from the field statistics. Meanwhile, the transverse momentum distribution shows varying influence of ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ rescattering off the Coulomb potential, and the proportion of electrons recaptured as Rydberg states decreases monotonically with the amount of squeezed light applied. This work demonstrates the added experimental control over ultrafast electron dynamics achievable by tuning light’s quantum statistics, as well as the essential role of the atomic potential in strong field ionization.
Squeezed coherent quantum light is described by the complex squeeze parameter ζ = s e i ϑ and the coherent-state displacement parameter β = | β | e i ϕ β . Our study of strong-field ionization [D. Habibović and D. B. Milošević, ], which focused on bright squeezed vacuum quantum light with β = 0 and s ≫ 1 , is extended to ionization by squeezed coherent light. It is shown that the amplitudes s and | β | strongly influence the ionization process, whereas phases ϑ and ϕ β play a less significant role. The present work provides a unified treatment of coherent, squeezed vacuum, and squeezed coherent light within a single theoretical framework. The quantum nature of the driving field is incorporated by averaging the strong-field ionization probability over the Husimi-Kano phase-space distribution. Using neon as a representative target, we analyze how the parameters characterizing squeezed coherent light modify photoelectron spectra and intensity-dependent enhancements. We show that nonclassical photon statistics can lead to a pronounced steepening of the rescattering plateau and, at low mean intensities, to an effective suppression of the nominal high-energy cutoff. These effects originate from the reduced weight of high-intensity field components inherent to squeezed states and have no analog in strong-field ionization driven by a coherent light. Our results highlight the potential for quantum-statistical control of strong-field ionization and provide a foundation for exploring laser-matter interactions driven by quantum light.
Strong-field ionization is the cornerstone of attosecond physics, which has been extensively studied under coherent-state driving. Recently, the interface between attosecond physics and quantum optics has emerged as a new frontier. Yet, owing to experimental limitations, the role of the quantum nature of light in atomic strong-field ionization has remained unexplored. Here, we demonstrate strong-field ionization of xenon atoms driven by bright squeezed vacuum (BSV) with average pulse energy up to 10 \textmu J. We show that, as a nonclassical state with zero mean field and strong intensity fluctuations, BSV selectively enhances the spider-like holographic structures in the photoelectron momentum distributions. Using a quantum-light-corrected quantum-trajectory Monte Carlo (q-QTMC) model, we attribute this effect to the intrinsic coherence of trajectory pairs emitted within the same subcycle field fluctuation. These dynamically correlated paths exhibit enhanced phase stability and remain robust against dephasing, whereas asynchronous paths are filtered out by field noise. Our results reveal a quantum-fluctuation-induced mechanism for coherence protection in strong-field processes, positioning BSV as an effective coherence filter and establishing a new regime of quantum-enabled noise-resilient ultrafast dynamics.
Strong-field physics uses intense optical fields to probe and control electron motion on ultrafast timescales. Recent advances in bright squeezed vacuum have brought macroscopic quantum states of light into the ultrafast strong-field regime, opening prospects for high-harmonic generation and photoionization. Yet linking its phase-space structure to subcycle electron dynamics remains challenging. Here, we demonstrate strong-field tunneling ionization of xenon using a phase-referenced combination of coherent and squeezed fields, with the coherent field defining the ionization clock and quadrature fluctuations of the zero-mean squeezed field providing control. The squeezed field selectively modulates atomic tunneling barriers and electron wave packets, imprinting signatures on photoelectron momentum distributions, number statistics, and energy spectra. Using coincidence measurements of photon number and phase-sensitive photoelectron momentum distributions, we perform quantum state tomography of the driving field by reconstructing its Wigner function. These results establish a bidirectional interface between quantum optics and nonperturbative strong-field electron dynamics, in which the driving quantum field shapes subcycle electron motion while photoionization provides a phase-sensitive probe of the field's quantum state. This work opens new routes toward controlling electron dynamics with quantum light and phase-sensitive quantum state metrology through ultrafast strong-field electron dynamics.
We demonstrate that quantum light statistics can be used to control strong-field ionization at the tunneling step. Using a bichromatic linearly polarized field composed of a strong coherent driver and a weak bright squeezed vacuum (BSV), we show through simulation that photoelectron momentum distributions (PMDs) exhibit asymmetries that exceed those obtained with classical fields of comparable intensity by orders of magnitude. This enhancement is uniquely linked to the nonclassical statistics of the BSV field. A semiclassical analysis based on the strong-field approximation (SFA) reveals that the effect originates from fluctuations in the instantaneous field amplitude, which strongly modify the tunneling ionization probability while leaving the electron's continuum dynamics essentially unchanged. This selective control enables reconstruction of ionization pathways and provides a robust route to extract sub-cycle dynamics from strong-field observables.
Strong-field ionization provides a fundamental route for probing nonlinear electron dynamics on ultrafast timescales, but it has been explored almost exclusively with classical coherent driving fields. Intense quantum light sources, particularly bright squeezed vacuum (BSV), now make it possible to ask how macroscopic photon-number fluctuations affect nonperturbative electron emission. Here, we address this question by performing shot-resolved BSV-photoelectron coincidence measurements in strong-field ionization of xenon atoms, with simultaneous access to the single-shot driving pulse intensity and the energy- and momentum-resolved photoelectron response. By calibrating the intensity-dependent ionization probability with a pulse-integrated Ammosov-Delone-Krainov response, we reconstruct the single-pulse ionization-yield distribution and quantify its fluctuations in electron momentum space. We find that intensity-conditioned BSV-driven spectra recover coherent-field-like cutoff scaling, while the reconstructed yield fluctuations increase toward higher electron energies and momenta, showing that high-energy electrons preferentially sample rare high-intensity BSV shots. Beyond ensemble-averaged spectra or photoelectron-number statistics, this approach resolves the momentum- and energy-dependent transfer of quantum-light fluctuations into atomic ionization yields. These results establish yield fluctuations as observables for strong-field quantum optics and benchmarks for theories beyond the classical-field approximation.
Above-threshold ionization (ATI) is a strong-field-driven process where electrons absorb more photons than required for ionization. While ATI dynamics and outputs are well-understood when driven by classical, perfectly coherent light, the recent development of nonclassical light sources for strong-field phenomena has spurred interest in their effect on the involved electron dynamics. In this work, we present a microscopic quantum optical theory describing ATI under the influence of strong squeezed light. We observe that squeezed light significantly enhances the coupling between light and matter, making their mutual backaction more important than under classical driving. This backaction profoundly impacts the electronic ionization times, as well as the nonclassical properties of the joint electron-light state. This results in pronounced entanglement features, both immediately after ionization and at later times. These entanglement features are reflected in the properties of the quantum optical state of the driving field, revealing notable non-Gaussian features that depend on both the amount of squeezing and the number of ionization events occurring during the interaction.