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Control of tunneling ionization and subcycle interference dynamics with squeezed coherent light

Peizeng Li1, Xiaoxiao Long1, Zijian Lyu1, Haodong Liu1, Yankun Dou1, Ziheng Qin1, Peipei Ge2, and Yunquan Liu1,3,*

  • 1State Key Laboratory for Mesoscopic Physics and Frontiers Science Center for Nano-Optoelectronics, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
  • 2Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics and School of Physics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China
  • 3Collaborative Innovation Center of Extreme Optics, Shanxi University, Taiyuan, Shanxi 030006, China

  • *Contact author: yunquan.liu@pku.edu.cn
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Phys. Rev. Research 8, 023047 – Published 15 April, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/pbc2-3r6m

Abstract

The influence of the quantum state of light on strong-field ionization has emerged as a frontier in attosecond physics. Here, we develop a quantum-optical extension of the quantum-trajectory Monte Carlo framework to study the ionization of hydrogen atoms driven by an orthogonally polarized two-color quantum field, composed of an 800 nm coherent field and a 1600 nm squeezed coherent field. We show that the quantum properties of light significantly influence the subcycle dynamics of photoelectron wave packets. We systematically analyze how the quantum statistics of light influence the photoelectron phase, momentum, yield, and number distribution. Our results reveal a direct correspondence between the quantum fluctuations of the driving field and the electron final state, unveiling an avenue for controlling electron wave packet interference via the quantum properties of light.

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Outline

Information

Phys. Rev. Research 8, 023047– Published 15 April, 2026
  • Received 19 August 2025
  • Revised 7 December 2025
  • Accepted 20 March 2026
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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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