12 research outputs found
Classical dynamics near the triple collision in a three-body Coulomb problem
We investigate the classical motion of three charged particles with both
attractive and repulsive interaction.The triple collision is a main source of
chaos in such three body Coulomb problems.By employing the McGehee scaling
technique, we analyse here for the first time in detail the three-body dynamics
near the triple collision in 3 degrees of freedom.We reveal surprisingly simple
dynamical patterns in large parts of the chaotic phase space. The underlying
degree of order in the form of approximate Markov partitions may help in
understanding the global structures observed in quantum spectra of two-electron
atoms.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Total photoionization cross section of planar helium: scaling laws and collision orbits
The total photoionization cross section of planar helium has been calculated up to the single ionization threshold I22 of triple P states. The cross section shows chaotic fluctuations as the energy E approaches the double ionization threshold E=0. By analyzing the fluctuating part of the cross section, we show that its amplitude decreases as ∣E∣ mu for E-> 0- as predicted in Byunet al(2007 Phys. Rev. Lett., 98, 113001). The Fourier transform of the fluctuating part reveals peaks at the classical actions of closed triple collision orbits. Furthermore, the relative height of the peaks is consistent with the semiclassical predictions. Our findings underline that the fluctuating part of the photoionization cross section can be described by classical triple collision orbits in the semiclassical limit. These orbits all lie in the collinear eZe subspace, demonstrating that the fluctuations are dominated by the dynamics of this low dimensional phase space
Scaling laws for the photo-ionisation cross section of two-electron atoms
The cross sections for single-electron photo-ionisation in two-electron atoms
show fluctuations which decrease in amplitude when approaching the
double-ionisation threshold. Based on semiclassical closed orbit theory, we
show that the algebraic decay of the fluctuations can be characterised in terms
of a threshold law as with exponent
obtained as a combination of stability exponents of the triple-collision
singularity. It differs from Wannier's exponent dominating double ionisation
processes. The details of the fluctuations are linked to a set of infinitely
unstable classical orbits starting and ending in the non-regularisable triple
collision. The findings are compared with quantum calculations for a model
system, namely collinear helium.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur
The classical dynamics of two-electron atoms near the triple collision
The classical dynamics of two electrons in the Coulomb potential of an
attractive nucleus is chaotic in large parts of the high-dimensional phase
space. Quantum spectra of two-electron atoms, however, exhibit structures which
clearly hint at the existence of approximate symmetries in this system. In a
recent paper,(Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 054302 (2004)), we presented a study of the
dynamics near the triple collision as a first step towards uncovering the
hidden regularity in the classical dynamics of two electron atoms. The
non-regularisable triple collision singularity is a main source of chaos in
three body Coulomb problems. Here, we will give a more detailed account of our
findings based on a study of the global structure of the stable and unstable
manifolds of the triple collision.Comment: 21 pages, 17 figure
Amplitude and phase reconstruction of electron wave packets for probing ultrafast photoionization dynamics
Ultrafast atomic processes, such as excitation and ionization occurring on the femtosecond or shorter time scale, were explored by employing attosecond high-harmonic pulses. With the absorption of a suitable high-harmonic photon a He atom was ionized, or resonantly excited with further ionization by absorbing a number of infrared photons. The electron wave packets liberated by the two processes generated an interference containing the information on ultrafast atomic dynamics. The attosecond electron wave packet, including the phase, from the ground state was reconstructed first and, subsequently, that from the 1s3p state was retrieved by applying the holographic technique to the photoelectron spectra comprising the interference between the two ionization paths. The reconstructed electron wave packet revealed details of the ultrafast photoionization dynamics, such as the instantaneous two-photon ionization rate.Peer reviewed: YesNRC publication: N