Circular dichroism in free-free transitions of high-energy electron-atom scattering - art. no. 063406

We consider high-energy electron scattering by hydrogen atoms in the presen ce of a laser field of moderate power and higher frequencies. If the field is a superposition of a linearly and a circularly polarized laser beam in a particular configuration, then we can show that circular dichroism in two- photon transitions can be observed not only for the differential but also f or the integrated cross sections, provided the laser dressing of the atomic target is treated in second-order perturbation theory and the coupling bet ween hydrogenic bound and continuum states is involved.