Eur. Phys. J. D (2016) 70: 266
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2016-70507-8

Regular Article

Atomic coherence effects in few-cycle pulse induced ionization^*

¹ MTA “Lendület” Ultrafast Nanooptics Group, Wigner Research Centre for Physics, Konkoly-Thege M. út 29-33, 1121 Budapest, Hungary
² Department of Theoretical Physics, University of Szeged, Tisza Lajos körút 84, 6720 Szeged, Hungary
³ ELI-ALPS, ELI-HU Non-profit Ltd., Dugonics tér 13, 6720 Szeged, Hungary

^a e-mail: ayadi.viktor@wigner.mta.hu

Received: 11 August 2016
Received in final form: 14 October 2016
Published online: 20 December 2016

Abstract

The interaction of a short, few-cycle light pulse and an atom which is prepared initially in a superposition of two stationary states is shown to exhibit strong signatures of atomic coherence. For a given waveform of the laser pulse, appropriate quantum mechanical relative phase between the constituents of the initial superposition can increase the ionization probability by a factor of three. A similarly strong effect can be observed when the waveform of the ionizing pulse is changed. These results allow for intuitive explanations, which are in agreement with the numerical integration of the time dependent Schrödinger equation. A detailed analysis shows that the verification our findings is feasible experimentally.