Numerical simulations of strong-field processes in momentum space

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that solving the time-dependent Schrödinger equation in momentum space simplifies numerical simulations of strong-field processes, reducing computational costs while maintaining accuracy in high-order harmonic generation and ionization spectra.

Contribution

The study introduces an efficient momentum-space approach for solving the TDSE, improving computational efficiency over traditional real-space methods.

Findings

Momentum-space solutions match real-space results for spectra.

Significant reduction in computational cost.

Effective simulation of strong-field phenomena.

Abstract

The time-dependent Schrodinger equation (TDSE) is usually treated in real space in the textbook. However, it makes the numerical simulations of strong-field processes difficult due to the wide dispersion and fast oscillation of the electron wave packets under the interaction of intense laser fields. Here we demonstrate that the TDSE can be efficiently solved in the momentum space. The high-order harmonic generation and above-threshold ionization spectra obtained by numerical solutions of TDSE in momentum space agree well with previous studies in real space, but significantly reducing the computation cost.