Abstract

Recent experiments[1] designed to give high-resolution spectra for photoelectrons ionized from helium by a short-pulse laser at very high intensity, have been matched by theory[2] to within the experimental error bounds for all but the lowest part of the energy spectrum. This is notable for several reasons. First, no other comparison of high intensity theory and experiment has previously been shown to be in such close and detailed correspondence. Second, the experimentalists, in their attempts to match theory and experiment had come to the conclusion that no existing theory could duplicate the energetic, or “hot” end of the electron spectra. This is now shown not to be at all a source of difficulty. Finally, the theory employed [3,4] is one which has long been asserted to be valid for atomic ionization as long as certain minimum intensity criteria are met. Previous published “tests” of the theory have failed by large factors to satisfy the required applicability criteria, but the present experiments do satisfy them, and confirm the validity of the theory for very strong fields.

© 1994 Optical Society of America