Correlated Electron Dynamics in Few-body Systems

该奖项是根据2009年《美国复苏和再投资法案》(Public Law 111-5)资助的。在21世纪头几年取得的激光技术和计算能力的进步，使人们能够进入一个全新的制度，在这个制度下，一个原子或分子的内部运作--即复杂的、相关的电子之舞--可以被实时捕捉和操纵。这种新的激光技术的一个例子是产生持续时间小于100阿秒的激光脉冲(1阿秒=十亿分之一秒)。这样的脉冲为解决量子力学和原子分子物理学中的一些基本问题提供了工具，例如电子在多长时间尺度上相互影响，或者原子或分子中电子之间的能量转移需要多长时间。该项目将通过开发和应用先进的数值模拟技术来解决这些问题，以研究氦原子和氢分子与超短激光脉冲的相互作用。特别是，该项目将分析原子和分子中关联电子运动的三个关键例子，即如何在时间上解决(A)强场双电离中的亚周期激发态动力学，(B)分子中激光驱动的关联电子动力学，以及(C)双光电离中的关联电子发射。数值模拟的结果将为在世界范围内进行的实验提供理论支持。研究生将受益于不同的指导和榜样。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).Advances in laser technology and computing power that have been made in the first few years of the 21st century allow one to enter a fundamentally new regime, where the inner workings of an atom or molecule - that is the complex, correlated dance of electrons - can be captured and manipulated in real time. An example of this new laser technology is the generation of laser pulses of less than 100 attoseconds in duration (1 as = one quintillionth of a second). Such pulses provide the tool to tackle some fundamental questions in quantum mechanics and atomic and molecular physics, such as on what time scale electrons influence each other, or how much time it takes for energy transfer between the electrons in an atom or molecule. The project will address these questions by developing and applying advanced numerical simulation techniques, to study the interaction of a helium atom and a hydrogen molecule with ultrashort laser pulses. In particular, the project will analyze three key examples of correlated electron motion in atoms and molecules, namely how to temporally resolve (a) the sub-cycle excited state dynamics in strong-field double ionization, (b) the laser-driven correlated electron dynamics in a molecule, and (c) the correlated electron emission in double photoionization. The results of numerical simulations will provide theoretical support for experiments performed worldwide.A graduate student will benefit from diverse mentoring and role models.