ENERGY-SPECTRA OF ELECTRONS EMITTED FROM LASER-IRRADIATED LOW-DENSITYGAS AND THE CORRESPONDENCE PRINCIPLE OF ELECTROMAGNETIC-INTERACTION

It is expected (Hora and Handel 1987) that the energy spectra of elect rons emitted from laser-irradiated atoms in few-density gases would be fundamentally different for laser intensities above and below the thr eshold of a correspondence principle. Below such a threshold, the emis sion is a quantum mechanical interaction while, in contrast, above the threshold it is a classical process. Both of our earlier experiments (Boreham and Hora 1979; Boreham and Luther-Davies 1979) and those of s everal others, including some very recent results (Monot et al. 1993) confirm - after some controversy - the existence of such a corresponde nce principle. Details are discussed.