Correlated non-perturbative electron dynamics with quantum trajectories

Ivan P Christov

doi:10.1364/oe.14.006906

Abstract

An approach to electron correlation effects in atoms that uses quantum trajectories is presented. A comparison with the exact quantum mechanical results for 1D Helium atom shows that the major features of the correlated ground state distribution and of the strong field ionization dynamics are reproduced with quantum trajectories. The intra-atomic resonant transitions are described accurately by a trajectory ensemble. The present approach reduces significantly the computational time and it can be used for both bound and ionizing electrons.

Highlights

Owning to the recent developments in laser technology large range of intensities and pulse durations became available to the experiment
For strong fields and in attosecond time scale it is expected that the detailed motion of one of the electrons can significantly modify the motion of the rest of the electrons in their orbits, so clearly such correlation effects cannot be taken into account by single active electron (SAE)
Two other approaches that go beyond SAE are the time dependent Hetree-Fock method and the time dependent density functional method, but these fail to describe correct correlated dynamics in strong fields [2,3,4]

Summary

Introduction

Owning to the recent developments in laser technology large range of intensities and pulse durations became available to the experiment. The time evolution of the two-electron wave function in an external field is governed by the Schrödinger equation (in atomic units): i

Objectives

Results

Conclusion