Controlling Three-Dimensional Electron–Electron Correlation via Elliptically Polarized Intense Laser Field

The three-dimensional electron–electron correlation in an elliptically polarized laser field is investigated based on a semiclassical model. Asymmetry parameter α of the correlated electron momentum distribution is used to quantitatively describe the electron–electron correlation. The dependence of α on ellipticity ε is totally different in three directions. For the z direction (major polarization direction), α first increases and reaches a maximum at $\epsilon =0.275$, then it decreases quickly. For the y direction in which the laser field is always absent, the ellipticity has a minor effect, and the asymmetry parameter fluctuates around $\alpha =-0.15$. However, for the x direction (minor polarization direction), α increases monotonously with ellipticity though starts from the same value as in the y direction when $\epsilon =0$. The behavior of α in the x direction actually indicates a transformation from the Coulomb interaction dominated correlation to the laser field dominated correlation. Therefore, our work provides an efficient way to control the three-dimensional electron–electron correlation via an elliptically polarized intense laser field. (paper)