LASER EFFECTS IN PHOTOIONIZATION .2. NUMERICAL-SOLUTION OF COUPLED EQUATIONS FOR ATOMIC-HYDROGEN

The time-dependent Schrödinger equation was solved numerically, as a set of coupled equations, for an electron moving in three spatial dimensions, bound initially in the ground state of a hydrogen atom, and acted upon by a linearly polarized, single-frequency, classical electromagnetic field, turned on abruptly at t=0. Characteristic photoionization times PI were computed for a wide range of laser intensities, at a photon energy of 5 eV. Comparison was made with the predictions of two widely used analytic expressions for PI. Emitted electron energy spectra and angular distributions were computed. The spectrum of radiation emitted during ionization was also determined. © 1990 The American Physical Society.