Quantum pathways interference in nonadiabatic strong-field ionizations driven by elliptically polarized laser pulses

Ultrafast phenomena initiated by strong-field ionization are commonly interpreted within classical or semiclassical frameworks based on electron trajectories. In this work, we theoretically investigate the energy-resolved photoelectron angular distributions in above-threshold ionization (ATI) induced by elliptically polarized ultraviolet (UV) pulses and unravel the underlying dynamics from the perspective of quantum-pathway interference. By numerically solving the three-dimensional time-dependent Schrödinger equation, we extract the contributions of the quantum pathways for an electron transitioning from the ground state to the continuum under pulses with different ellipticities. Our results demonstrate that for close-to-circularly polarized UV pulses, two quantum pathways govern the angular distribution for each ATI peak, and their interference produces a cosinusoidal oscillation in the photoelectron angular distributions, which is distinct from the Gaussian characteristic predicted by the traditional tunneling framework. In particular, the corresponding offset angle is shown to depend on the relative phase between these two dominant channels. As the ellipticity decreases, the increasing number of contributing pathways leads to a multiple-peak structure in the photoelectron angular distribution. The present study provides a quantum-mechanical perspective for understanding the angular streaking of nonadiabatic ionization in rotating fields.