Production of energetic electrons in the process of photodetachment of F-.

An imaging technique is used to record an energy and angle resolved spectrum of electrons produced by photodetachment of F- in a strong infrared laser pulse. The spectrum involves contributions from more than 23 excess photon detachment channels. Its higher energy part extends beyond the classical cutoff value, and it appears as a pronounced plateau localized within a small angle along the laser polarization axis. A Keldysh-like theory is able to qualitatively reproduce the spectrum without taking into account the rescattering mechanism. The role of the parity of the initial bound state is discussed.