Ab initio study of time-dependent dynamics in strong-field triple ionization

TL;DR

This study uses ab initio simulations to analyze the dynamics and dominant pathways of strong-field triple ionization in a three-electron system, highlighting the importance of the Pauli principle.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the ionization channels and the role of the Pauli principle in strong-field three-electron ionization processes.

Findings

Sequential single and double ionization are most probable.

Direct triple ionization has a lower probability.

Singlet states of up- and down-spin electrons dominate the double ionization channel.

Abstract

An ab initio analysis of strong-field three-electron ionization in a restricted-dimensionality model reveals the dynamics of the ionization process and the dominant channels for double (DI) and triple ionization (TI). Simulations using wave functions that respect the Pauli principle show that the most likely channel is a sequence of single ionization (SI) and DI, while direct TI has a much lower probability. The dominant DI process has the highest probability for a singlet of up- and down-spin electrons. The results demonstrate the significance of the Pauli principle for the selection of dominant pathways in ionization and possibly other many-electron processes in strong fields.