Signatures of bound-state-assisted nonsequential double ionization

Abstract

The time-dependent multiconfiguration Hartree method is optimized for intense laser dynamics and applied to nonsequential double ionization in a two-electron diatomic model molecule with two dimensions per electron. The efficiency of our method brings these calculations from the realm of large scale computation facilities to single processor machines. The resulting two-electron spectrum exhibits pronounced signatures from which the ionic bound states involved in nonsequential double ionization are retrieved with the help of a semiclassical model. A mechanism for the ionization dynamics is suggested. © 2009 The American Physical Society.