Bound-state corrections in laser-induced nonsequential double ionization

Abstract

We perform a systematic analysis of how nonsequential double ionization in intense, linearly polarized laser fields is influenced by the initial states in which both electrons are bound, and by the residual ionic potential. We assume that the second electron is released by electron-impact ionization of the first electron with its parent ion, using an S-Matrix approach. We work within the Strong-Field Approximation, and compute differential electron momentum distributions using saddle-point methods. Specifically, we consider electrons in $1s$, $2p$, $3p$ and localized states, which are released by either a contact or a Coulomb-type interaction. We also perform an adequate treatment of the bound-state singularity which is present in this framework. We show that the momentum distributions are very sensitive with respect to spatially extended or localized wave functions, but are not considerably influenced by their shape. Furthermore, the modifications performed in order to overcome the bound-state singularity do not significantly alter the momentum distributions, apart from a minor suppression in the region of small momenta. The only radical changes occur if one employs effective form factors, which take into account the presence of the residual ion upon rescattering. If the ionic potential is of contact type, it outweighs the spreading caused by a long-range electron-electron interaction, or by spatially extended bound states. This leads to momentum distributions which exhibit a very good agreement with the existing experiments.

13 pages revtex, 11 figures (eps files)

References in corpus (7)

• High-order above-threshold ionization: the uniform approximation and the effect of the binding potential
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• Bifurcations of Periodic Orbits and Uniform Approximations
• Nonsequential double ionization with few-cycle laser pulses
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• Classical and quantum-mechanical treatments of nonsequential double ionization with few-cycle laser pulses
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Cited by in corpus (10)

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• Quantum interference in laser-induced nonsequential double ionization in diatomic molecules: the role of alignment and orbital symmetry
• Two-electron ionization in strong laser fields below intensity threshold: signatures of attosecond timing in correlated spectra
• Causality and quantum interference in time-delayed laser-induced nonsequential double ionization
• Non-sequential double ionization below laser-intensity threshold: Anticorrelation of electrons without excitation of parent ion
• Excitation, two-center interference and the orbital geometry in laser-induced nonsequential double ionization of diatomic molecules
• Detangling the quantum tapestry of intra-channel interference in below-threshold nonsequential double ionization with few-cycle laser pulses
• Polarization in Strong-Field Ionization of Excited Helium
• Nonsequential Double Ionization with Polarization-gated Pulses