Qprop: A Schrödinger-solver for intense laser–atom interaction Original Research Article

The Qprop package is presented. Qprop has been developed to study laser–atom interaction in the nonperturbative regime where nonlinear phenomena such as above-threshold ionization, high order harmonic generation, and dynamic stabilization are known to occur. In the nonrelativistic regime and within the single active electron approximation, these phenomena can be studied with Qprop in the most rigorous way by solving the time-dependent Schrödinger equation in three spatial dimensions. Because Qprop is optimized for the study of quantum systems that are spherically symmetric in their initial, unperturbed configuration, all wavefunctions are expanded in spherical harmonics. Time-propagation of the wavefunctions is performed using a split-operator approach. Photoelectron spectra are calculated employing a window-operator technique. Besides the solution of the time-dependent Schrödinger equation in single active electron approximation, Qprop allows to study many-electron systems via the solution of the time-dependent Kohn–Sham equations.