Photon momentum sharing between an electron and an ion in photoionization: from one-photon (photoelectric effect) to multiphoton absorption.

We investigate photon-momentum sharing between an electron and an ion following different photoionization regimes. We find very different partitioning of the photon momentum in one-photon ionization (the photoelectric effect) as compared to multiphoton processes. In the photoelectric effect, the electron acquires a momentum that is much greater than the single photon momentum ℏω/c [up to (8/5) ℏω/c] whereas in the strong-field ionization regime, the photoelectron only acquires the momentum corresponding to the photons absorbed above the field-free ionization threshold plus a momentum corresponding to a fraction (3/10) of the ionization potential Ip. In both cases, due to the smallness of the electron-ion mass ratio, the ion takes nearly the entire momentum of all absorbed N photons (via the electron-ion center of mass). Additionally, the ion takes, as a recoil, the photoelectron momentum resulting from mutual electron-ion interaction in the electromagnetic field. Consequently, the momentum partitioning of the photofragments is very different in both regimes. This suggests that there is a rich, unexplored physics to be studied between these two limits which can be generated with current ultrafast laser technology.