Ellipticity- and wavelength-dependent Rydberg-state excitation induced by strong laser fields
Phys. Rev. A 113, 063110 – Published 22 June, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/xhp4-5qwh
Abstract
We perform a joint experimental and theoretical study on Rydberg-state excitation (RSE) of argon in elliptically polarized strong laser fields with different wavelengths in the range of 800–1500 nm. It is observed that the RSE yield is suppressed with increasing ellipticity and such an ellipticity dependence is more significant for longer wavelengths. A three-dimensional classical trajectory Monte Carlo simulation well reproduces the experimental observations. It is indicated that Rydberg atoms originate from the electrons released within a certain survival window of the initial ionization phase and transverse velocity, which shifts more significantly as the wavelength increases. In addition, analysis of the final kinetic-energy distributions of the ionized electrons indicates that the low-energy electrons that can be recaptured into Rydberg states are depleted more rapidly with ellipticity for longer wavelengths. Our study sheds some light on the strong-field RSE in elliptically polarized lasers, showing that the recapture probability can be controlled by tuning the laser ellipticity and wavelength, reflecting changes in both the initial conditions at the tunneling exit and the electrons' final kinetic energy after tunneling.
