Role of quantum trajectory in high-order harmonic generation in the Keldysh multiphoton regime.

Abstract

We present a systematic study of spectral and temporal structure of high-order harmonic generation (HHG) by solving accurately the time-dependent Schrödinger equation for a hydrogen atom in the multiphoton regime where the Keldysh parameter is greater unity. Combining with a time-frequency transform and an extended semiclassical analysis, we explore the role of quantum trajectory in HHG. We find that the time-frequency spectra of the HHG plateau near cutoff exhibit a decrease in intensity associated with the short- and long-trajectories when the ionization process is pushed from the multiphoton regime into the tunneling regime. This implies that the harmonic emission spectra in the region of the HHG plateau near and before the cutoff are suppressed. To see the generality of this prediction, we also present a time-dependent density-functional theoretical study of the effect of correlated multi-electron responses on the spectral and temporal structure of the HHG plateau of the Ar atom.