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Physics, Atomic Physics, physics.atom-ph,Quantum Physics, quant-ph
Abstract:
Modifications of photoionization arising from resonant electron-electron
correlations between neighbouring atoms in an atomic sample are studied. The
sample contains atomic species A and B, with the ionization potential of A
being smaller than the energy of a dipole-allowed transition in B. The atoms
are subject to an external radiation field which is near-resonant with the
dipole transition in B. Photoionization of an atom A may thus proceed via a
two-step mechanism: photoexcitation in the subsystem of species B, followed by
interatomic Coulombic decay. As a basic atomic configuration, we investigate
resonant photoionization in a three-atomic system A-B-B, consisting of an atom
A and two neighbouring atoms B. It is found that, under suitable conditions,
the influence of the neighbouring atoms can strongly affect the photoionization
process, including its total probabilty, time development and photoelectron
spectra. In particular, by comparing our results with those for photoionization
of an isolated atom A and a two-atomic system A-B, respectively, we reveal the
characteristic impact exerted by the third atom.
