Transverse momentum asymmetry of the extracted electron in field ionization of a Hydrogen Atom with angular momentum

Abstract

The tunneling ionization of a hydrogen atom excited in the presence of a static electric field is investigated for the case where, before being extracted, the electron has an orbital angular momentum L perpendicular to the field E. The escaping electron has a nonzero mean transverse velocity <vT> in the direction of E cross <L>. This asymmetry is similar to the Collins effect in the fragmentation into hadrons of a transversely polarized quark. In addition, the linear Stark effect make <L> and <vT> oscillate in time. The degree of asymmetry is calculated at leading order in E for an initial state of maximum transverse <L>. The conditions for the observation of this asymmetry are discussed.