Modeling femtosecond laser-induced electron dynamics in dielectrics by means of optical bloch equations

Modern laser technologies provide high-intensity single- or few-cycle laser pulses which open new doors to study laser-matter interaction processes. To predict new routes towards their active control, advanced theoretical and numerical models are required. When approaching the highly non-linear interaction regimes close to the material damage threshold, the traditional perturbation expansion of the polarization response is not valid anymore and a quantum-mechanical modeling is essential [1-4]. A good candidate to model the electron dynamics within this framework is the Optical Bloch Equations (OBEs) approach, which provides all-order material response within a single self-consistent description. We develop a new OBEs-based model of laser matter-interaction including field-induced ionization, both linear and nonlinear polarization responses leading to high harmonics, impact ionization and various relaxation processes taking place in dielectric materials. Here, we apply our model to describe the electron dynamics induced by an intense femtosecond laser pulse in a dielectric