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  • Letter
  • Open Access

Chiral electron momentum distribution upon strong-field ionization of atoms

A. Geyer1,*, J. Stindl1, I. Dwojak1, M. Hofmann1, N. Anders1, P. Roth1, P. Daum1, J. Kruse1, S. Jacob1 et al.

S. Gurevich1, N. Wong1, M. S. Schöffler1, L. Ph. H. Schmidt1, T. Jahnke2, M. Kunitski1, R. Dörner1, and S. Eckart1,†

  • *Contact author: geyer@atom.uni-frankfurt.de
  • †Contact author: eckart@atom.uni-frankfurt.de
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Phys. Rev. Research 7, L032061 – Published 18 September, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/8pnf-fmqt

Abstract

We present a scheme to synthesize a three-dimensional laser field that produces a chiral electron momentum distribution upon strong-field ionization of atoms. Our approach employs two orthogonally propagating two-color laser beams. This results in a time-dependent three-dimensional electric field vector of the combined light field that varies for different positions within the focal volume. For each position, we conduct a simulation of the corresponding electron momentum distribution that includes nonadiabatic dynamics and Coulomb interaction after tunneling. For suitable laser parameters, only a small region of the focal volume contributes to the final momentum distribution. Thus, integrating over all position coordinates, a specific chiral laser field dominates. This leads to a volume-averaged electron momentum distribution, which is chiral, as well. This work will serve as a benchmark for future strong-field experiments aiming at the synthetization of well-defined, three-dimensional laser fields.

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Phys. Rev. Research 7, L032061– Published 18 September, 2025
  • Received 11 April 2025
  • Accepted 19 August 2025
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

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