Multiphoton ionization rates for atomic hydrogen: Linear and circular polarization compared

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Abstract
Previously reported calculations of the photoionization rate for atomic hydrogen interacting with a linearly polarized laser beam have been repeated using an improved computer algorithm. Good agreement now exists between our calculated rates and those predicted by three other groups [M. Pindzola (private communication); K. Kulander (private communication); S. Chu and J. Cooper, Phys. Rev. A 32, 2769 (1985)]. Our results are, however, in apparent disagreement with reported measurements of these rates [T. Nichols and G. Kyrala, Bull. Am. Phys. Soc. 35, 1156 (1990)]. Calculations are also reported of the photoionization rates for atomic hydrogen interacting with a circularly polarized laser beam. Results for linear and circular polarizations are compared with each other, as well as with the predictions of several analytic formulas [L. Keldysh, Sov. Phys–JETP 20, 1307 (1965); H. Reiss, J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 4, 726 (1987)].