Dressing effects in the laser-assisted ( e,2e ) process in fast-electron–hydrogen-atom collisions in an asymmetric coplanar scattering geometry

Abstract

We present the theoretical treatment of laser-assisted $(e,2e)$ ionizing collisions in hydrogen for fast electrons, in the framework of the first-order Born approximation at moderate laser intensities and photon energies beyond the soft-photon approximation. The interaction of the laser field with the incident, scattered, and ejected electrons is treated nonperturbatively by using Gordon-Volkov wave functions, while the atomic dressing is treated by using first-order perturbation theory. Within this semiperturbative formalism, we obtain a closed-form formula for the nonlinear triple differential cross section (TDCS), which is valid for linear as well circular polarizations. Analytical simple expressions of TDCS are derived in the weak field domain and low-photon energy limit. It was found that for nonresonant $(e,2e)$ reactions, the analytical formulas obtained for the atomic matrix element in the low-photon energy limit give a good agreement, qualitative and quantitative, with the numerical semiperturbative model calculations. We study the influence of the photon energy as well of the kinetic energy of the ejected electron on the TDCS, in the asymmetric coplanar geometry, and show that the dressing of the atomic target strongly influences the $(e,2e)$ ionization process. We discuss the exchange effects between the ejected and scattered electrons in the TDCS.