EQuAL Seminar: Anna Dardia

Observation of strong-field stabilization using a cold-atom quantum simulator

Very strong laser fields profoundly alter the structure and dynamics of atoms. At extremely high intensities the result is often the destruction of the atom via an ionization event in which one or more electrons are ejected. Intuitively, one might expect that as the intensity of a laser pulse increases, the rate of ionization should as well. However, approximate theories predict that above some intensity threshold the ionization rate will level off and even decrease with increasing intensity. This phenomenon is known as strong-field stabilization; although it has been discussed and debated for decades, technical barriers to reaching the extremely high threshold intensities have made direct experimental observation difficult. In this talk, I will discuss the use of an analog quantum experimental platform which realizes the same physics in the setting of trapped ultracold atoms to directly observe and investigate strong-field stabilization. I will discuss recent experimental results and their physical interpretation, which is informed by numerical simulations from our collaborators at OSU. Finally, I will discuss the outlook and implications for future research in the domain of strong-field physics.