Holographic interferences in strong-field ionization beyond the dipole approximation: The influence of the peak and focal-volume-averaged laser intensities

Abstract

In strong-field ionization, interferences between electron trajectories create a variety of interference structures in the final momentum distributions. Among them, the interferences between electron pathways that are driven directly to the detector and those that rescatter significantly with the parent ion lead to holography-type interference patterns that have received great attention in recent years. In this work, we study the influence of the laser magnetic-field component onto the holographic interference pattern, an effect beyond the electric-dipole approximation, in experiment and theory. The experimentally observed nondipole signatures are analyzed via quantum trajectory Monte Carlo simulations. We provide explanations for the experimentally demonstrated asymmetry in the holographic interference pattern and its nonuniform photoelectron energy dependence as well as for the variation of the topology of the holography-type interference pattern along the laser-field direction. Analytical scaling laws of the interference features are derived, and their direct relation to either the focal-volume-averaged laser intensities, or to the peak intensities are identified. The latter, in particular, provides direct access to the peak intensity in the focal volume.