Single- and multiple-electron dynamics in the strong-field tunneling limit
- Chemistry Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York 11973 (United States)
- Service des Photons, Atomes et Molecules, Centre dEtudes de Saclay, 91191 Gif Sur Yvette (France)
- Theoretical Atomic and Molecular Physics Group, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 94551 (United States)
Evolution of atomic ionization into the strong-field limit offers the opportunity to study the fundamentals of atom-laser interaction. In this study, we report on high precision measurements of the ion and electron distributions from laser-excited helium and neon atoms which reflect the changing continuum dynamics as the ionization process evolves into the pure tunneling regime. The experiments present evidence of both single- and two-electron ionization. These data provide a direct quantitative test of various theories of strong-field ionization. We show that a relatively simple semiclassical model which includes a description of a field-driven electron elastically rescattering from an accurate ion core potential reproduces the measured electron distributions for both atoms. However, using this model to calculate e-2e inelastic rescattering yields cross sections which are incompatible with the measured two-electron ionization. {copyright} {ital 1998} {ital The American Physical Society}
- OSTI ID:
- 663716
- Journal Information:
- Physical Review A, Vol. 58, Issue 5; Other Information: PBD: Nov 1998
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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