Accurate semiclassical method for constructing photoelectron momentum distribution for atoms in intense few-cycle laser pulses*

We present a semiclassical method for constructing photoelectron momentum distribution (PMD) for atoms in intense few-cycle laser pulses. In the method, the momentum distribution is modeled in two steps. The first step is strong-field ionization, and the second step is electron propagation in the combined atomic and laser fields within the Herman-Kluk semiclassical time evolution operator approach. The constructed PMD is compared very well to the exact numerical solutions of the time-dependent Schrödinger equation (TDSE) for different atoms (H, Ar, Ne, and Xe). Detailed analysis was carried out for rescattered electrons, which are responsible for the high-energy region. The excellent agreements with the TDSE enable this semiclassical method to retrieve the differential cross section of elastic scattering of the target ion. We also show that the model successfully produces the photoelectron holography, which implies that the interference between direct and rescattered electrons is well described.