Above-Threshold Ionization and Electron Scattering in Intense Light.
01 January 1988
This paper reviews recent experimental studies of atomic photoionization and electron scattering in intense laser fields. At intensities of 10 sup (13) to 10 sup (14) W/cm sup 2 , above-threshold ionization (ATI) and ponderomotive scattering of free electrons are the dominant phenomena. We discuss the implications of three new observations: ATI "fine structure" observed with sub-picosecond pulses; asymmetric angular distributions seen in ATI with elliptically polarized light; and the scattering of electrons from an optical standing wave (Kapitza-Dirac effect).