High harmonic spectra via dominant interaction Hamiltonians

TL;DR

This paper introduces dominant interaction Hamiltonians to approximate electron dynamics in strong laser fields, enabling accurate high harmonic spectra calculation with potential applications to complex systems.

Contribution

It presents a novel approach using local phase space information to switch between interactions, improving the approximation of high harmonic generation.

Findings

High harmonic spectra match quantum results closely

Method simplifies calculations for complex atomic systems

Provides a semiclassical framework for electron dynamics

Abstract

We formulate the concept of dominant interaction Hamiltonians to obtain an integrable approximation to the dynamics of an electron exposed to a strong laser field and an atomic potential leading to high harmonic generation. The concept relies on local information in phase space to switch between the interactions. This information is provided by classical integrable trajectories from which we construct a semiclassical wave function. The high harmonic spectrum obtained is in excellent agreement with the accurate quantum spectrum. The separation in the atomic potential and laser coupling interactions should facilitate the calculation of high harmonic spectra in complex systems.