High Harmonic Generation by anions and atoms: Effect of initial/final state wave functions

When High Harmonic Generation (HHG) is considered theoretically within the ideas of the rescattering mechanism, the specifics of initial/final state of the active electron usually attracts little attention. We explore such a specifics related to initial/final bound p-state of the active electron (existing studies concentrated on s-states). The halogen anions and noble gas atoms (except He) provide important examples of such targets. The present theory with realistic wave functions gives HHG rates by one or two orders of magnitude lower than previous calculations with asymptotic (single-exponential) wave functions. This indicates that the HHG process is much more sensitive to the description of the bound state wave functions in the inner domain than the Above Threshold Ionization where the asymptotic (large-r) approach is sufficient and self-consistent. The rates of HHG processes with and without change of electron magnetic quantum number m` are compared for B(2p) and H(2p) targets. Submitted to: J. Phys. B: At. Mol. Phys. PACS numbers 42.65.Ky, 42.50.Hz, 32.80.Rm, 32.80.Wr High Harmonic Generation 2