Speed-up and slow-down collisions in laser-induced non-sequential multiple ionization

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We investigate laser-induced non-sequential multiple ionization using a simple statistical model in which an electron recollides inelastically with its parent ion. In this collision, it thermalizes with the remaining N − 1 bound electrons within a time interval Δt. Subsequently, all the N electrons leave. We address the question of how the above time delays influence the individual contributions from the orbits in which the first electron, upon return, is accelerated or decelerated by the field, respectively, to the ion momentum distributions. In both cases, the time delays modify the drift momenta obtained by the N electrons when they reach the continuum at t+Δt, by moving such times towards or away from a crossing of the electric field. The contributions from both types of collisions are influenced in distinct ways, and the interplay between such trends determines the widths and the peak momenta of the distributions. Specifically in the few-cycle pulse case, we also show that such time delays do not affect the shapes of the momentum distributions in a radical fashion. Hence, even with a thermalization time Δt, non-sequential multiple ionization could in principle be used for absolute-phase diagnosis.