Inelastic processes in the interaction of an atom with an ultrashort electromagnetic pulse

Abstract

Electron transitions occurring during the interaction of a heavy relativistic atom with a spatially inhomogeneous ultrashort electromagnetic pulse are considered by solving the Dirac equation. The corresponding transition probabilities are expressed in terms of known inelastic atomic form factors, which are widely used in the theory of relativistic collisions between charged particles and atoms. By way of example, the inelastic processes accompanying the interaction of ultrashort pulses with hydrogen-like atoms are considered. The probabilities of ionization and production of a bound-free electron-positron pair on a bare nucleus, which are accompanied by the formation of a hydrogen-like atom in the final state and a positron in the continuum, are calculated. The developed technique makes it possible to take into account exactly not only the spatial inhomogeneity of an ultrashort electromagnetic pulse, but also the magnetic interaction.