Anomalous photoelectron spectrum caused by finite interaction time in few-cycle xuv laser pulses

Abstract

With the development of laser technology, pulse length enters the optical cycle regime and hence the interaction time between laser pulse and atoms becomes prominent. We investigate this problem in this Letter through the photoelectron spectrum of hydrogen atom in few-cycle xuv laser pulses. By solving one-dimensional time-dependent Schr\"odinger equation, we find that due to the insufficient interaction time, the electron can not gain enough energy from optical field when escaping the bind of the nuclear and then the abnormality appears in the photoelectron spectrum: the peak of photoelectron spectrum shows red shift compared with the well-known Einstein photo-electric effect formula. The shift becomes large as the pulse duration decreases.