Probability distribution of an initially bound electron in the ground state of hydrogen in the presence of a traveling laser field and a static magnetic field. The static magnetic field is aligned parallel to the magnetic field component of the laser and its frequency is approximately one-half of the laser frequency. The figure shows the probability distribution in the x-y plane, where x is the laser polarization direction and y is the propagation direction. The relativistic but classical equations of motion have been solved numerically using a Monte-Carlo method. As time progresses, the probability distribution evolves into a distinct figure-8.
Computation parameters associated with this movie are as follows. The laser field has a maximum strength of 1.5 a.u. and an angular frequency of 0.15 a.u. The magnetic field angular frequency is 0.08 a.u. The coulomb potential V(r) = -1 / (r^2+1)^(1/2) was used. The total length of the simulation was 500 optical cycles.