Nonsequential double ionization with time-dependent renormalized-natural-orbital theory

Abstract

Recently introduced time-dependent renormalized natural orbital theory (TDRNOT) is tested on non-sequential double ionization (NSDI) of a numerically exactly solvable one-dimensional model He atom subject to few-cycle, 800-nm laser pulses. NSDI of atoms in strong laser fields is a prime example of non-perturbative, highly correlated electron dynamics. As such, NSDI is an important "worst-case" benchmark for any time-dependent few and many-body technique beyond linear response. It is found that TDRNOT reproduces the celebrated NSDI "knee," i.e., a many-order-of-magnitude enhancement of the double ionization yield (as compared to purely sequential ionization) with only the ten most significant natural orbitals (NOs) per spin. Correlated photoelectron spectra - as "more differential" observables - require more NOs.

7 pages, 5 figures, REVTeX

References in corpus (4)

• Adiabatic Approximation of the Correlation Function in the Density-Functional Treatment of Ionization Processes
• Calculation of photoelectron spectra within the time-dependent configuration interaction singles scheme
• Momentum distributions in time-dependent density functional theory: Product phase approximation for non-sequential double ionization in strong laser fields
• Equations of motion for natural orbitals of strongly driven two-electron systems