Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Physics
Single-photon double ionization of an atom in a strong radiation field
Elena A. Volkova, A. M. Popov, Olga V. Tikhonova
Abstract
Double ionization is studied by direct numerical integration of the time-dependent Schrödinger equation for a model two-electron system in the field of an electromagnetic wave in the case when the photon energy exceeds the energy required for the removal of both electrons of the atom. The probabilities of single-electron and double ionization are obtained as functions of the radiation intensity. The energy spectra and double pulse distributions of photoelectrons are analyzed. It is shown that single-photon ionization plays a significant role only in the limiting cases of weak and strong fields. The obtained results are used in an analysis of the contributions from different channels to the double-ionization process (in particular, for clarifying the role of the electron-electron interaction). The results of numerical calculations are compared with the analytic model of the phenomenon.