Radiation- Field-Driven Ionization in Laser-Assisted Slow Atomic Collisions

Abstract

This chapter provides a detailed insight into the theoretical treatment of the single electron emission in slow atomic collisions in the presence of a weak laser field via two-center resonant photoionization driven by the coupling of the colliding system to the radiation field when considering the fully relativistic interatomic interaction which accounts for the retardation effect. We derive the reaction rate for this process and compare the numerical results to those for two-center photoionization in the nonrelativistic treatment where the retardation effect, allowing for the efficient coupling to the radiation field, is not included and the interaction between the colliding atoms is regarded as instantaneous. Besides, we also discuss the relative effectiveness of two-center photoionization with respect to direct photoionization. The following chapter is mainly based on results published initially in Ref. [50].