Asymmetric electron energy sharing in strong-field double ionization of helium

Abstract

With the classical three-dimensional ensemble model, we have investigated the microscopic recollision dynamics in nonsequential double ionization of helium by 800-nm laser pulses at $2.0 \mathrm{PW}/{\mathrm{cm}}^{2}$. We demonstrate that the asymmetric energy sharing between the two electrons at recollision plays a decisive role in forming the experimentally observed $\mathsf{V}$-shaped structure in the correlated longitudinal electron momentum spectrum at the high laser intensity [Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 263003 (2007)]. This asymmetric energy-sharing recollision leaves footprints on the transverse electron momentum spectra, which provide insight into the attosecond three-body interactions.