Cross sections for short pulse single and double ionization of helium

In a previous publication, procedures were proposed for unambiguously extracting amplitudes for single and double ionization from a time-dependent wavepacket by effectively propagating for an infinite time following a radiation pulse. Here we demonstrate the accuracy and utility of those methods for describing two-photon single and one-photon double ionization of helium. In particular it is shown how narrow features corresponding to autoionizing states are easily resolved with these methods.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figure

Cross sections for the elastic scattering of low-energy electrons by molecular fluorine: an approximate theoretical treatment using discrete basis functions

Phaseshifts and total cross sections for the elastic scattering of low-energy (0-13.6 eV) electrons by molecular fluorine are presented. The phaseshifts are obtained by an approximate technique based on the weak asymptotic coupling of orbital angular momenta and are calculated solely from the results of a discrete basis set diagonalization of the molecular Hamiltonian. Correlation and polarization effects are not treated. The elastic cross section is dominated by a Sigma u+ shape resonance at about 2.2 eV in the static-exchange model

Decoding sequential vs non-sequential two-photon double ionization of helium using nuclear recoil

Above 54.4 eV, two-photon double ionization of helium is dominated by a sequential absorption process, producing characteristic behavior in the single and triple differential cross sections. We show that the signature of this process is visible in the nuclear recoil cross section, integrated over all energy sharings of the ejected electrons, even below the threshold for the sequential process. Since nuclear recoil momentum imaging does not require coincident photoelectron measurement, the predicted images present a viable target for future experiments with new short-pulse VUV and soft X-ray sources.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

A relationship between the many-body theory of inelastic scattering and the distorted wave approximation

It is shown that the first-order results of the recent many-body theory of inelastic scattering (see abstr. A25430 of 1971) can be derived by a direct application of the distorted-wave and random phase approximations to the usual expression for the inelastic scattering amplitude. The result is derived both in the second quantized formalism and by the standard application of the distorted-wave approximation coupled with the random phase approximation (RPA). The RPA (or time-dependent Hartree-Fock theory) provides the transition density between the initial and inelastically excited states. Possible generalizations of the procedures are discussed

Photoabsorption cross sections of two-electron atoms by the coordinate rotation method: Application to H– and several states of He

The coordinate rotation method, recently extended by us to treat photoabsorption processes, is used to obtain photoabsorption cross sections for several two-electron atoms. The calculations are performed using standard configuration–interaction methods; the need for atomic continuum wavefunctions is completely avoided in this approach. We have computed the photodetachment cross section of H– and photoionization cross sections for He in its ground and 2 1S states. In all cases, the computed cross sections agree well with results obtained by numerical integration and with available experimental data

A simple method for evaluating low-energy electron-molecule scattering cross sections using discrete basis functions

We present a simple, approximate method for calculating low-energy electron-molecule scattering cross sections using only the results of a basis set diagonalization of the molecular Hamiltonian. The method is based on the approximate conservation of orbital angular momentum in collisions between slow electrons and molecules lacking a permanent dipole moment (low l spoiling). Results are presented for e--H2, and e--N2, in the static-exchange approximation

Dissociative electron attachment to the H2O molecule. I. Complex-valued potential-energy surfaces for the 2B1, 2A1, and 2B2 metastable states of the water anion

We present the results of calculations defining global, three-dimensional representations of the complex-valued potential-energy surfaces of the doublet B1, doublet A1, and doublet B2 metastable states of the water anion that underlie the physical process of dissociative electron attachment to water. The real part of the resonance energies is obtained from configuration-interaction calculations performed in a restricted Hilbert space, while the imaginary part of the energies (the widths) is derived from complex Kohn scattering calculations. A diabatization is performed on the 2A1 and 2B2 surfaces, due to the presence of a conical intersection between them. We discuss the implications that the shapes of the constructed potential-energy surfaces will have upon the nuclear dynamics of dissociative electron attachment to H2O. This work originally appeared as Phys Rev A 75, 012710 (2007). Typesetting errors in the published version have been corrected here.Comment: Corrected version of PRA 75, 012710 (2007

Probing autoionizing states of molecular oxygen with XUV transient absorption: Electronic symmetry dependent lineshapes and laser induced modification

The dynamics of autoionizing Rydberg states of oxygen are studied using attosecond transient absorption technique, where extreme ultraviolet (XUV) initiates molecular polarization and near infrared (NIR) pulse perturbs its evolution. Transient absorption spectra show positive optical density (OD) change in the case of $ns\sigma_g$ and $nd\pi_g$ autoionizing states of oxygen and negative OD change for $nd\sigma_g$ states. Multiconfiguration time-dependent Hartree-Fock (MCTDHF) calculation are used to simulate the transient absorption spectra and their results agree with experimental observations. The time evolution of superexcited states is probed in electronically and vibrationally resolved fashion and we observe the dependence of decay lifetimes on effective quantum number of the Rydberg series. We model the effect of near-infrared (NIR) perturbation on molecular polarization and find that the laser induced phase shift model agrees with the experimental and MCTDHF results, while the laser induced attenuation model does not. We relate the electron state symmetry dependent sign of the OD change to the Fano parameters of the static absorption lineshapes.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figure

A many-body treatment of Feshbach theory applied to electron-atom and electron-molecule collisions

The Feshbach projection-operator technique is investigated using second quantization to construct approximate optical potentials with Tamm-Dancoff-approximation and random-phase-approximation descriptions for closed-shell targets. We interpret a recent many-body theory of elastic scattering (due to Schneider, Taylor, and Yaris) as an approximate form of the equations of this work. Possible applications and extensions of the method are also described