Pulse duration effects on laser-assisted electron transfer cross section for He2+ ions colliding with atomic hydrogen

Abstract

We study the effect of the pulse duration for an ultra-fast and intense laser on the fundamental process of electron capture by analyzing the excitation probability into the n = 2 and n = 3 states when He2+ collides with atomic hydrogen in the 0.05–10 keV/amu energy range, a region of interest for diagnostic processes on plasma and fusion power reactors. We solve the time-dependent Schrodinger equation to calculate the electron capture probability by means of a finite-differences, as well as by an electron-nuclear dynamics approach. In particular, we study the effects of 1, 3, 6, and 10 fs laser pulses at FWHM, wavelength of 780 nm and intensity of 3.5 × 1012 W/cm2. We report good agreement for the laser-free state and total electron transfer cross-sections when compared to available theoretical and experimental data. The effect of the laser pulse on the electron capture probability as a function of the impact parameter is such that the charge exchange probability increases considerably in the impact parameter radial region with an increase in the amplitude oscillations and a phase shift on the Stuckelberg oscillations. We find an increase on the total electron exchange cross-section for low projectile collision energy when compared to the laser-free case with a minimal effect at high collision energies. We find that the 1 fs laser pulse has a minimal effect, except for very low collision energies. Although in general, the longer the laser pulse, the larger the electron capture probability, at very low collision energies all pulse widths have an effect. For processes in the atto-second region, our findings suggest that to enhance the laser-assisted charge exchange, the best region for short pulses is at very low collision energies. We also find that the s and p state charge exchange cross section are equally affected. We provide a qualitative discussion of these findings.