Asymmetries in the momentum distributions of electrons stripped by a XUV chirped pulse in the presence of a laser field

Abstract

The ionization of hydrogen by a chirped XUV pulse in the presence of a few cycle infrared laser pulse has been investigated. The electron momentum distribution has been obtained by treating the interaction of the atom with the XUV radiation at the first order of the time-dependent perturbation theory and describing the emitted electron through the Coulomb-Volkov wavefunction. The results of the calculations agree with the ones found by solving numerically the time-dependent Schr¨odinger equation. It has been found that depending on the delay between the pulses the combined effect of the XUV chirp and of the steering action on the infrared field brings about asymmetries in the electron momentum distribution. These asymmetries may give information on both the chirp and the XUV pulse duration.