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Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons

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Physics Faculty Research & Creative Works

Atomic Physics

2009

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Treatment Of Ion-Atom Collisions Using A Partial-Wave Expansion Of The Projectile Wavefunction, T. G. Wong, M. Foster, J. Colgan, Don H. Madison May 2009

Treatment Of Ion-Atom Collisions Using A Partial-Wave Expansion Of The Projectile Wavefunction, T. G. Wong, M. Foster, J. Colgan, Don H. Madison

Physics Faculty Research & Creative Works

We present calculations of ion-atom collisions using a partial-wave expansion of the projectile wavefunction. Most calculations of ion-atom collisions have typically used classical or plane-wave approximations for the projectile wavefunction, since partial-wave expansions are expected to require prohibitively large numbers of terms to converge scattering quantities. Here we show that such calculations are possible using modern high-performance computing. We demonstrate the utility of our method by examining elastic scattering of protons by hydrogen and helium atoms, problems familiar to undergraduate students of atomic scattering. Application to ionization of helium using partial-wave expansions of the projectile wavefunction, which has long been …


Quantitative Rescattering Theory For Nonsequential Double Ionization Of Atoms By Intense Laser Pulses, Samuel Micheau, Zhangjin Chen, Anh-Thu Le, C. D. Lin Jan 2009

Quantitative Rescattering Theory For Nonsequential Double Ionization Of Atoms By Intense Laser Pulses, Samuel Micheau, Zhangjin Chen, Anh-Thu Le, C. D. Lin

Physics Faculty Research & Creative Works

Laser-induced electron recollisions are fundamental to many strong field phenomena in atoms and molecules. Using the recently developed quantitative rescattering theory, we demonstrate that the nonsequential double ionization (NSDI) of atoms by lasers can be obtained quantitatively in terms of inelastic collisions of the target ions with the free returning electrons where the latter are explicitly given by a spectrum-characterized wave packet. Using argon atoms as target, we calculated the NSDI yield including contributions from direct (e,2e) electron-impact ionization and electron-impact excitation accompanied by subsequent field ionization. We further investigate the dependence of total NSDI on the carrier-envelope phase of …