Abstract

Recent advances in the use of fast Fourier transform (FFT) techniques for the solution of the explicitly time-dependent nonrelativistic Schrodinger equation have made calculations of electron motion in a strong (nonperturbative) laser field possible. Evaluation of the spatial differential operators is provided on a grid by a Fourier transform and synthesis. These techniques are physically and numerically attractive because of the natural description of periodic wavepacket phenomena and the intrinsic computational efficiency arising from the use of the FFT algorithm. Explicitly time-dependent treatments have the advantage of treating the continuum directly; a corresponding disadvantage arises in the difficulty of asymptotic analysis of the evolved wavefunction, for example, in the simulation of a photoelectron spectrum. Several different time propagation schemes can be used with the FFT spatial evaluations; results for some of these schemes are presented for model 1-D potentials.

© 1989 Optical Society of America