Scattering-amplitude phase in spiderlike photoelectron momentum distributions

Abstract

The spiderlike structures in the photoelectron momentum distributions of ionized electrons from the hydrogen atom are numerically simulated by using a semiclassical rescattering model (SRM) and solving the time-dependent Schrodinger equation (TDSE), focusing on the role of the phase of the scattering amplitude. With the SRM, we find that the spiderlike legs shift to positions with smaller transverse momentum values while increasing the phase. The spiderlike patterns obtained by SRM and TDSE are in good agreement upon considering this phase. In addition, the time differences in electron ionization and rescattering calculated by SRM and the saddle-point equations are either in agreement or show very similar laws of variation, which further corroborates the significance of the phase of the scattering amplitude.