We present a model-independent theory for laser detachment of a weakly bound electron having a nonzero angular momentum. Our treatment reduces to the well-known Keldysh result for tunnel ionization upon neglecting rescattering effects. Numerical results for the above-threshold detachment spectrum of a negative ion having an outer $p$ electron show significant modification of the rescattering plateau as compared to that for an ion having an outer $s$ electron.

• Received 2 April 2003

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.91.053003