Ionization of Multielectron Atoms by Fast Charged Particles

Ionization-excitation of helium by fast charged particles.

Ionization of Atoms by Slow Heavy Particles, Including Dark Matter.

Atoms and molecules can become ionized during the scattering of a slow, heavy particle off a bound electron. Such an interaction involving leptophilic weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) is a promising possible explanation for the anomalous 9σ annual modulation in the DAMA dark matter direct detection experiment [R. Bernabei et al., Eur. Phys. J. C 73, 2648 (2013)]. We demonstrate the ...

Absolute ionization rates of multielectron transition metal atoms in strong infrared laser fields.

We report on nonresonant strong field ionization of the multielectron transition metal atoms V, Nb, Ta, Ni, and Pd. Operating in the adiabatic regime (lambda = 1.5 microm), we quantitatively determined both (i) the first charge state saturation intensities and (ii) the absolute ionization rates for intensities ranging from threshold up to 3 x 10(14) W/cm2. We observed a dramatic suppression of ...

Imaging and Controlling Multielectron Dynamics by Laser-induced Tunnel Ionization

Using sequential strong-field double ionization in a pump-probe scheme we show through calculations how electronic dynamics can be prepared and imaged. Electronic dynamics arise whenever multiple states of the ion are accessed in the ionization step. The dynamics in the cation influence the rate of the second ionization step and the momentum distribution of the ejected electron, allowing their ...

Coulomb asymmetry in strong field multielectron ionization of diatomic molecules.

We measure the angular distribution of an electron emitted by a strong elliptically polarized two-color laser field from exploding doubly charged molecular nitrogen. This angular distribution is vastly different for emission of the electron from the up-field core of the molecule as compared to that from the down-field core. The emission from the down-field core leads to a slight rotation with r...