Vortex streets and honeycomb structures in photodetachment driven by linearly polarized few-cycle laser pulses
F. Cajiao Vélez, Lei Geng, J. Z. Kamiński, Liang-You Peng, K. Krajewska
Abstract
Generation of electron vortices in photodetachment driven by linearly polarized laser pulses is demonstrated, both within the strong-field approximation and by numerically solving the time-dependent Schr\"odinger equation. The sensitivity of the resulting vortex patterns in the momentum distributions of photoelectrons to the laser pulse parameters (including the pulse duration, its intensity, and the carrier-envelope phase) is analyzed. It is shown that, for a nonzero carrier-envelope phase of the driving pulse, vortex structures in the probability amplitude of detachment occur, similar to von K\'arm\'an vortex streets in fluid mechanics. In addition, hexagonal regions of high probability (honeycomb patterns) are observed, with vortex-antivortex pairs located at their vertices.