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Yu. V. Popov

Publications and source records attributed to Yu. V. Popov.

13 recordsLinked to original sources

Ion and Electron Momentum Distributions from Single and Double Ionization of Helium Induced by Compton Scattering

We present the momentum distributions of the nucleus and of the electrons from double ionization of the helium atom by Compton scattering of photons with $hν=40$ keV. We find that the doubly charged ion momentum distribution is very close to the Compton profile of the nucleus in the ground state of the helium atom, and the momentum distribution of the singly charged ion to give a precise image of the electron Compton profile. To reproduce these results, non-relativistic calculations require the use of highly correlated initial- and final-state wavefunctions.

physics.atom-ph

Static field limit of excitation probabilities in laser-atom interactions

We consider the interaction of atomic hydrogen, in its ground state, with an electromagnetic pulse whose duration is fixed in terms of the number of optical cycles. We study the probability of excitation of the atom in the static field limit i.e. for field frequencies going to zero. Despite the fact that the well known Born-Fock adiabatic theorem is valid only for a system whose energy spectrum is discrete, we show that it is still possible to use this theorem to derive, in the low frequency limit, an analytical formula which gives the probability of transition to any excited state of the atom as a function of the field intensity, the carrier envelope phase and the number of optical cycles within the pulse. The results for the probability of excitation to low-lying excited states, obtained with this formula, agree with those we get by solving the time-dependent Schroedinger equation. The domain of validity is discussed in detail.

physics.atom-ph

Fully differential cross sections for singly ionizing 1-Mev p+He collisions at small momentum transfer: Beyond the first Born approximation

We present calculations of the electron angular distributions in the single ionization of helium by 1-MeV proton impact at momentum transfer of 0.75 a.u. and ejected-electron energy of 6.5 eV. The results using the first and second Born approximations and the 3C model with different trial helium functions are compared to the experimental data. A good agreement between theory and experiment is found in the case of the 3C final state and a strongly correlated helium wave function. The electron-electron correlations in the He atom are found to influence the ratio of the binary and recoil peak intensities.

physics.atom-ph

Ionisation of H$_2$O by a strong ultrashort XUV pulse: a model within the single active electron approximation

We present and discuss a new computationally inexpensive method to study, within the single active electron approximation, the interaction of a complex system with an intense ultrashort laser pulse. As a first application, we consider the one photon single ionisation of the highest occupied molecular orbital of the water molecule by a laser pulse. The ionisation yield is calculated for different orientations of the molecule with respect to the field polarization axis and for different carrier envelope phases of the pulse, and compared against predictions of another single active electron approach.

physics.atom-ph

Modelling laser-atom interactions in the strong field regime

We consider the ionisation of atomic hydrogen by a strong infrared field. We extend and study in more depth an existing semi-analytical model. Starting from the time-dependent Schroedinger equation in momentum space and in the velocity gauge we substitute the kernel of the non-local Coulomb potential by a sum of N separable potentials, each of them supporting one hydrogen bound state. This leads to a set of N coupled one-dimensional linear Volterra integral equations to solve. We analyze the gauge problem for the model, the different ways of generating the separable potentials and establish a clear link with the strong field approximation which turns out to be a limiting case of the present model. We calculate electron energy spectra as well as the time evolution of electron wave packets in momentum space. We compare and discuss the results obtained with the model and with the strong field approximation and examine in this context, the role of excited states.

physics.atom-ph

Reformulation of the strong field approximation for light-matter interactions

We consider the interaction of hydrogen-like atoms with a strong laser field and show that the strong field approximation and all its variants may be grouped into a set of families of approximation schemes. This is done by introducing an ansatz describing the electron wave packet as the sum of the initial state wave function times a phase factor and a function which is the perturbative solution in the Coulomb potential of an inhomogeneous time-dependent Schrödinger equation. It is the phase factor that characterizes a given family. In each of these families, the velocity and length gauge version of the approximation scheme lead to the same results at each order in the Coulomb potential. By contrast, irrespective of the gauge, approximation schemes belonging to different families give different results. Furthermore, this new formulation of the strong field approximations allows us to gain deeper insight into the validity of the strong field approximation schemes. In particular, we address two important questions: the role of the Coulomb potential in the output channel and the convergence of the perturbative series in the Coulomb potential. In all the physical situations we consider here, our results are compared to those obtained by solving numerically the time-dependent Schrödinger equation.

physics.atom-ph

Agreement at last: an experimental and theoretical study on the single ionization of helium by fast proton impact

Even though ion/atom-collision is a mature field of atomic physics great discrepancies between experiment and theoretical calculations are still common. Here we present experimental results with highest momentum resolution on single ionization of helium induced by 1\,MeV protons and compare these to different theoretical calculations. The overall agreement is strikingly good and already the first Born approximation yields good agreement between theory and experiment. This has been expected since several decades, but so far has not been accomplished. The influence of projectile coherence effects on the measured data is shortly discussed in line with an ongoing dispute on the existence of nodal structures in the electron angular emission distributions.

physics.atom-ph

Transfer excitation reactions in fast proton-helium collisions

Continuing previous work, we have measured the projectile scattering-angle dependency for transfer excitation of fast protons (300-1200 keV/u) colliding with helium (p+He $\rightarrow$ H + He$^{+ *}$). Our high-resolution fully differential data are accompanied by calculations, performed in the plane wave first Born approximation and the eikonal wave Born approximation. Experimentally we find a deep minimum in the differential cross section around 0.5 $mrad$. The comparison with our calculations shows that describing the scattering angle dependence of transfer exitation in fast collisions requires to go beyond the first Born approximation and in addition to use initial state wave function, which contains some degree of angular correlations.

physics.atom-ph

Comment on "Dynamics of transfer ionization in fast ion-atom collisions"

We inspect the first-order electron-electron capture scenario for transfer ionization that has been recently formulated by Voitkiv et al. (Phys. Rev. A 86, 012709 (2012) and references therein). Using the multichannel scattering theory for many-body systems with Coulomb interactions, we show that this scenario is just a part of the well-studied Oppenheimer-Brinkmann-Kramers approximation. Accurate numerical calculations in this approximation for the proton-helium transfer ionization reaction exhibit no appreciable manifestation of the claimed mechanism.

physics.atom-ph

2D electron momentum distributions for transfer ionization in fast proton Helium collisions

The momentum distribution of the electron in the reaction p+He $\rightarrow$ H + He$^{2+}$ + $e$ is measured for projectile energies $E_p$=300 and 630 keV/u at very small scattering angles of hydrogen. We mainly present two dimensional distributions parallel $(k_{||})$ and perpendicular $(k_{\perp})$ to the projectile beam. Theoretical calculations were carried out within the Plane Wave First Born Approximation (PWFBA), which includes both electron emission mechanisms, shake-off and sequential capture and ionization. It is shown that electron correlations in the target wave function play the most important role in the explanation of experimentally observed backward emission. Second order effects have to be involved to correctly describe the forward emission of the electron.

physics.atom-ph

Transfer ionization and its sensitivity to the ground-state wave function

We present kinematically complete theoretical calculations and experiments for transfer ionization in H$^++$He collisions at 630 keV/u. Experiment and theory are compared on the most detailed level of fully differential cross sections in the momentum space. This allows us to unambiguously identify contributions from the shake-off and two-step-2 mechanisms of the reaction. It is shown that the simultaneous electron transfer and ionization is highly sensitive to the quality of a trial initial-state wave function.

physics.atom-ph

Parabolic Sturmians approach to the three-body continuum Coulomb problem

The three-body continuum Coulomb problem is treated in terms of the generalized parabolic coordinates. Approximate solutions are expressed in the form of a Lippmann-Schwinger type equation, where the Green's function includes the leading term of the kinetic energy and the total potential energy, whereas the potential contains the non-orthogonal part of the kinetic energy operator. As a test of this approach, the integral equation for the $(e^-,\, e^-,\, {{He}^{++}})$ system is solved numerically by using the parabolic Sturmian basis representation of the (approximate) potential. Convergence of the expansion coefficients of the solution is obtained as the basis set used to describe the potential is enlarged.

quant-ph

Application of the $J$-matrix Method to Faddeev-Merkuriev equation: beyond pseudostates

A version of the $J$-matrix method for solving numerically the three-body Faddeev-Merkuriev differential equations is proposed. This version allows to take into account the full spectrum of the two-body Coulomb subsystem. As a result, a discrete analog of the Lippmann-Schwinger equation is obtained which allows to interpret correctly the three-body wave function in two-body domains. The scheme is applied to calculations of the fully resolved absolute differential cross sections for the He$(e,2e)$He$^+$ and He$(e,3e)$He$^{++}$ reactions at small energy and momentum transfers. The results are in good agreement with the experiment both in shape and in absolute value.

physics.atom-ph