Calculations of total photoionization cross-section for^M two-electron atomic systems

We present the hybrid anti-symmetrized coupled channels method for the calculation of fully differential photo-electron spectra of multi-electron atoms and small molecules interacting with strong laser fields. The method unites quantum chemical few-body electronic structure with strong-field dynamics by solving the time dependent Schr\"odinger equation in a fully anti-symmetrized basis composed of multi-electron states from quantum chemistry and a one-electron numerical basis...

A fully relativistic calculation of the double photoionization of helium-like atoms is presented. The approach is based on the partial-wave representation of the Dirac continuum states and accounts for the retardation in the electron-electron interaction as well as the higher-order multipoles of the absorbed photon. The electron-electron interaction is taken into account to the leading order of perturbation theory. The relativistic effects are shown to become prominent alread...

We apply the convergent close-coupling (CCC) formalism to the problem of two-photon double ionization of helium. The electron-photon interaction is treated perturbatively whereas the electron-electron interaction is included in full. The integrated two-photon double ionization cross-section is substantially below non-perturbative literature results. However, the pattern of the angular correlation in the two-electron continuum is remarkably close to the non-perturbative time-d...

We calculate the photo-ionization cross-section from the ground state of the helium atom, using the complex rotation method and diagonalization of sparse matrices. This produces directly the positions and widths of the doubly excited 1Po resonances together with the photo-ionization cross-section. Our calculations up to the N=9 threshold are in perfect agreement with recent experimental data and show the transition from a regular structure at low energy to a chaotic one at hi...

Double photoionization by a single photon is often discussed in terms of two contributing mechanisms, {\it knock-out} (two-step-one) and {\it shake-off} with the latter being a pure quantum effect. It is shown that a quasi-classical description of knock-out and a simple quantum calculation of shake-off provides a clear separation of the mechanisms and facilitates their calculation considerably. The relevance of each mechanism at different photon energies is quantified for hel...

We describe a numerical method that simulates the interaction of the helium atom with sequences of femtosecond and attosecond light pulses. The method, which is based on the close-coupling expansion of the electronic configuration space in a B-spline bipolar spherical harmonic basis, can accurately reproduce the excitation and single ionization of the atom, within the electrostatic approximation. The time dependent Schr\"odinger equation is integrated with a sequence of secon...

Theoretically self-consistent calculations for photoionization and (e + ion) recombination are described. An identical eigenfunction expansion for the ion is employed in coupled channel calculations for both processes, thus ensuring consistently accurate cross sections and rates in an ab initio manner. The theoretical treatment of (e + ion) recombination subsumes both the non-resonant recombination ('radiative recombination'), and the resonant recombination ('di-electronic re...

We develop semiclassical approximations for calculating photoabsorption cross sections beyond the continuum threshold in quantum many-body systems. These approximations use the fully quantum-mechanical Wigner function of the ground state and semiclassical expansions only for the part of the cross section depending on the continuum states, thus avoiding the difficult explicit calculation of the continuum states. Even though the approach is general, we test it in electronic-str...

Few-photon induced breakup of helium is studied using a newly developed ab initio numerical framework for solving the six-dimensional time-dependent Schroedinger equation. We present details of the method and calculate (generalized) cross sections for the process of two-photon nonsequential (direct) double ionization at photon energies ranging from 39.4 to 54.4 eV, a process that has been very much debated in recent years and is not yet fully understood. In particular, we hav...

Experimental results on partial photo-ionisation cross sections of helium are analysed in the light of recent advances in the semiclassical theory of two-electron atoms. Byun et al (arXiv:physics/0701086) predict that the total photo-ionisation cross section below the double-ionisation threshold can, semiclassically, be described in terms of contributions associated with classical orbits starting and ending in the triple collision. The necessary modifications of the semiclass...