Binary and recoil collisions in strong field double ionization of helium

Phys Rev Lett. 2007 Dec 31;99(26):263002. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.99.263002. Epub 2007 Dec 28.

Abstract

We have investigated the correlated momentum distribution of both electrons from nonsequential double ionization of helium in a 800 nm, 4.5 x 10(14 W/cm2 laser field. Using very high resolution coincidence techniques, we find a so-far unobserved fingerlike structure in the correlated electron momentum distribution. The structure can be interpreted as a signature of the microscopic dynamics in the recollision process. We identify features corresponding to the binary and recoil lobe in field-free (e,2e) collisions. This interpretation is supported by analyzing ab initio solutions of a fully correlated three-dimensional helium model.