Circular dichroism in free-free transitions of high energy electron-atom scattering

Abstract

We consider high energy electron scattering by hydrogen atoms in the presence of a laser field of moderate power and higher frequencies. If the field is a superposition of a linearly and a circularly polarized laser beam in a particular configuration, then we can show that circular dichroism in two photon transitions can be observed not only for the differential but also for the integrated cross sections, provided the laser-dressing of the atomic target is treated in second order perturbation theory and the coupling between hydrogenic bound and continuum states is involved.