Abstract

The interaction of atoms with super intense electromagnetic fields has shown to give rise to the emergence of high harmonics |1|. Many aspect of this interaction have been explained satisfactorily with purely classical models while others have required a quantum mechanical treatment of the atom. We investigate the dynamics of these strong field processes more quantitatively by comparing the time dependent Wigner functions with classical Monte Carlo distributions, in particular, negativities in the Wigner function will give us a clear indication of the existence of quantum mechanical behaviour, in an earlier study Bustle, Akulin ami Schleich [2] employed a phase space description of the stabilization process, which concentrated on two dynamic regimes of the system: (i) for a sudden turn-on of the field, they predict classical stabilization while (ii) for an adiabatic turn-on, the origin of the process is of a purely quantum nature. We here investigate a regime which shows an interesting interplay of both classical and quantum behaviour.

© 1996 IEEE