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The spectrum of radiation emitted by an electron colliding with a nucleus in the presence of a monochromatic laser field is calculated. The Coulomb potential is treated at all orders and the radiation is seen as spontaneous transition between two free states. The kinetic energy of the electron isT∈100−3000 eV and the laser intensityI∈1010−1013 W/cm2; in this condition we see strong enhancement in thebremsstrahlung cross-section when the emitted frequency is an integral multiple of the laser frequency.

The high-harmonic generation from a structured quantum ring (SQR) driven by an intense laser field is presented within the single active electron approximation. The spectrum is studied by varying the symmetry of the physical system. The standard SQR (six identical and equidistant dots in a ring) presents a 60° rotational symmetry, that in this work is broken, moving or changing only one potential hole. We find that careful designed breaking of the geometrical symmetry of the SQR opens the possibility of controlling the characteristics of the harmonic lines such as intensity and polarization. HHG analysis of the emission spectrum performed through a Morlet wavelet, shows that the high-frequency emission occurs during short time intervals.

The effect of a static magnetic field on the high harmonic generation (HHG) from a quantum ring driven by one laser polarized along the x-axis is studied. The spin polarization (Formula presented.) and the temporal emission of the harmonics are studied by varying the intensity of the magnetic field and it is shown how these results have a significant technological impact in computer technology; in fact a boolean algebra can be implemented by assigning 0 and 1 values to low and high pulse intensities of the emitted harmonics and logic gates like the NOT can becreated.

We discuss an experiment on wind energy performed with home-made apparatus. The experiment reproduces a laboratory windmill, which can pump water from a lower level to a higher one. By measuring the gain of the gravitational potential energy of the pumped water, one can determine the power extracted from the wind. The activity was carried out with high-school students, in the framework of the Italian National Plan for Scientific Degrees-Physics. The proposed experiment allows teachers to discuss renewable energy sources with students whose knowledge of physics is limited to mechanics. It gives students the possibility to gain experience with energy and to increase their awareness of this renewable energy source.

The dynamics of a one-dimensional atom driven by three-laser fields is investigated. The total electric field is made up of a fundamental laser field of intensity W cm−2 and wavelength λ = 820 nm and two weak lasers with larger wavelengths. The intensity of the two weak fields is with k = 0.25. The frequencies of the weak fields are and , with and . The three lasers have a Gaussian envelope of 72 fs FWHM. It is shown, by numerical computation and using the semiclassical theory of high-harmonic generation, that the atom interacting with this combined field is able to emit an isolated attosecond burst of radiation.

The electron of a H 2 + driven by a strong electromagnetic field induces molecular vibrations. Numerical and analytical results show that the molecule behaves as a parametric oscillator and can be treated as a kicked oscillator. The results are discussed from the point of view of the electron's periodic dressing and undressing processes.

The radiation diffused by a one-dimensional homonuclear molecular ion driven by a laser field is studied as a function of the time. When the photon energy is resonant with the energy gap between the ground and the first excited state, the electronic probability density is seen to undergo slow and deep oscillations between the two nuclei. Synchronous to such oscillations, deep modulations of the emitted power are observed. The period of oscillation is of the order of 10 optical cycles. Detection of the variation in the intensity of the emitted electromagnetic spectrum therefore brings information on the position of the electron in the molecule.

A quantum ring driven by an intense laser field emits light in the form of high-harmonic radiation resulting from the strong acceleration experienced by the active electrons forced to move on a curved trajectory. The spectrum of the emitted light is rich and strongly dependent on the parameters of the problem. In order to investigate the physical origin of such variability, we focus on the seemingly simple problem of a laser-driven charge constrained to a ring from a classical standpoint. As it turns out, the dynamics of such a classical electron is governed by a nonlinear equation which results into a chaotic motion - by nature depending on the initial conditions in an unpredictable way. Our results indicate that the quantum harmonic spectra are reminiscent of the classical counterpart and suggest the existence of a line connecting the quantum and classical realms.

We discuss the physical properties of a noninteracting electron gas constrained to a spherical surface. In particular we consider its chemical potentials, its ionization potential, and its electric static polarizability. All these properties are discussed analytically as functions of the number $N$ of electrons. The trends obtained with increasing $N$ are compared with those of the corresponding properties experimentally measured or theoretically evaluated for quasispherical hollow atomic and molecular clusters. Most of the properties investigated display similar trends, characterized by a prominence of shell effects. This leads to the definition of a scale-invariant distribution of magic numbers which follows a power law with critical exponent $\ensuremath{-}0.5$. We conclude that our completely mechanistic and analytically tractable model can be useful for the analysis of self-assembling complex systems.

Accurate numerical calculations are carried out to investigate the validity of the two-state approximation in the case of resonant interactions between electromagnetic radiation and atoms . Short pulses are considered and the presence of the atomic spectrum is modelled by introducing a third, nonresonant, state . We show that the harmonics of the pulse profile may play a significant role in the dynamics of the process and may cause energy nonconserving transitions between the atomic states. © 1990 Taylor & Francis Ltd.

In this work we study harmonic emission from structured quantum rings (SQRs). In SQRs, electrons trapped in two-dimensional structures are further confined by an external potential composed of N scattering centers arranged on a circle. We build a suitable one-dimensional model Hamiltonian describing this class of systems and analytically solve the associated Schödinger equation. We find that the solution can be expressed in terms of Mathieu functions and focus on the specific case of N = 6. By exactly solving the time-dependent Schödinger equation, we then show how the harmonic response to linearly polarized lasers strongly depends on the ring physical parameters. The results illustrate how the additional degrees of freedom introduced by these parameters provide important handles to control the emitted spectrum that in some cases extends into the XUV region.

The dynamics of an electron wave packet in the presence of laser radiation and of a one-dimensional repulsive soft-core potential is investigated. For different laser intensities and for different initial positions of the electron wave packet, these results are compared with those for an attractive potential. The repulsive potential is capable of confining the electron quite efficiently under appropriate conditions. In these conditions, the electron is shown to emit a high harmonic spectrum similar to that emitted by the more conventional attractive potential. It is thus argued that recombination into an atomic bound state as required by the three step model is not essential for the emission of high harmonics.

We present the results of experimental and theoretical studies of high-order harmonic generation (HHG) in plasmas containing fullerenes using pulses of different duration and wavelength. We find that the harmonic cutoff is extended in the case of few-cycle pulses (3.5 fs, 29th harmonic) compared to longer laser pulses (40 fs, 25th harmonic) at the same intensity. Our studies also include HHG in fullerenes using 1300 and 780 nm multicycle (35 and 40 fs) pulses. For 1300 nm pulses, an extension of the harmonic cutoff to the 41st order was obtained, with a decrease in conversion efficiency that is consistent with theoretical predictions based on wave packet spreading for single atoms. Theoretical calculations of fullerene harmonic spectra using the single active electron approximation were carried out for both few-cycle and multicycle pulses.

The collision of an electron against a repulsive potential in the presence of a laser field is investigated. It is found that a sufficiently strong laser field forces the electron to remain in the neighbourhood of the repulsive potential causing bremsstrahlung. By appropriately filtering the emitted signal, an electron in the presence of a repulsive potential is capable of generating attosecond pulses.

An iterative method to obtain a solution of the differential equation $$i\dot a = \hat H(t)a$$ , with Ĥ a 3×3 Hermitian matrix anda the unknown vector, is proposed. The procedure is particularly suitable for computer implementation and, as an example, has been applied to find the excitation probability of a three-level atom after the synchronous passage of two laser pulses each almost resonant with a pair of atomic levels.

In this work we study the radiation diffused by a fictitious structured nanoring driven by an intense laser field. In our model we consider an electron moving through a cosine-shape potential. The results show that the ring, under particular conditions, emits a wide spectrum of harmonics.