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Journal of Physics Conference Series

Classical two-slit interference effects in double photoionization of molecular hydrogen at high energies

Daniel A. Horner, Shungo Miyabe, T. N. Rescigno, C. William McCurdy, Felipe Morales, Fernando Martı́n

Published Nov 1, 2009• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We report a thorough theoretical study of one photon double ionization of H 2 ([6]). We suggest that interference effects reported in one photon ionization will be reproducible in the case of double ionization when one of the photons carries most of the available energy and the other electron is not observed. These calculations reproduce recent double photoionization experiments of HH 2 ([3]).

DOI
10.1088/1742-6596/194/2/022068

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We report a thorough theoretical study of one photon double ionization of H 2 ([6]). We suggest that interference effects reported in one photon ionization will be reproducible in the case of double ionization when one of the photons carries most of the available energy and the other electron is not observed. These calculations reproduce recent double photoionization experiments of HH 2 ([3]).
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The single ionization of hydrogen molecules by fast electron impact is studied theoretically for transitions from the ground (gerade) state to final ground (gerade) and first-excited (ungerade) states of H2+{}_{2}^{+}2+​. It is shown that under definite conditions and for particular orientations of the molecule, the main physical features of the ionization reaction, which are the binary and recoil peaks usually associated with classical mechanisms, are completely erased by quantum interference effects that resemble the ones predicted previously for photoionization reactions. However, these new effects cannot be derived from photoionization results, as the electromagnetic field cannot transfer momentum. In addition, it is found that the emission spectra of transitions leading to the final gerade and ungerade states of the H2+{}_{2}^{+}2+​ residual target are analogous in certain cases to the patterns of two sources emitting waves in phase or antiphase, respectively. Finally, we show how an average of the emission from randomly oriented molecules produces a binary peak at the classical expected position, in agreement with experiments.
For the last 50 years, there has been considerable interest in the possibility of observing the equivalence of a Young's double-slit wave interference at the quantum level for diatomic molecules. For electron-impact ionization of diatomic molecules, indirect evidence for this type of interference has been found by changing the energy (wavelength) of the ejected electron while keeping the incident projectile scattering angle fixed. The present work represents an experimental and theoretical collaboration to better understand the physics of this type of interference. In addition to examining the effect of changing the ejected electron energy for a fixed scattered projectile angle, we have also examined the effect of keeping the ejected electron energy fixed while varying the projectile scattering angle. Model calculations are performed for three different types of possible two-center interference effects, and it is found that the most important one is diffraction of the projectile off two scattering centers.
Young's double slit interference effects for low incident energy 75.6eV75.6\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{eV}75.6eV electron impact ionization of N2{\mathrm{N}}_{2}N2​ are investigated using the distorted-wave impulse approximation (DWIA) for both coplanar symmetric and asymmetric scattering. Although the DWIA does not predict observable interference effects for the coplanar symmetric case, it predicts some strong Young's double-slit-type interference effects for the highly asymmetric scattering case. These effects are strong enough that they should be experimentally observable if one can make measurements in the backscattering region.
We present a theoretical study of the main characteristics of two-color photoionization spectra obtained when atoms are subjected to an intense radiation pulse containing the fundamental of an infrared laser and one of its higher harmonics. The frequency of the latter is chosen to be high enough that the atom can be ionized by a single photon. The calculation is performed by numerical integration of the time-dependent Schrödinger equation for a (three-dimensional) hydrogen atom. We present the general properties of the spectra and angular distributions as well as the possible occurrence of interferences between the laser-assisted process and above-threshold ionization. Our results indicate that such interference effects, which can lead to partial coherent control of the photoionization process, can be observed at moderate laser intensities within the reach of currently operated laser and harmonic sources.