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Abstract

This work presents an experimental study of fragmentation of helium by electron impact, in which absolute fully differential cross sections for single ionization, ionization-excitation and double ionization were determined. By applying a charged-particle imaging technique, the so-called reaction microscope, a large fraction of the final-state momentum space is covered, and the major limitations of previous experimental methods applied in this field could be overcome. Decisive modifications of the previous reaction microscope were undertaken, the most important one being the arrangement of the projectile beam parallel to the imaging-fields. For single ionization on helium an enhanced electron emission outside the projectile scattering plane is observed at both considered impact energies (102 eV and 1 keV), which is similar to the result found for ion-impact (M. Schulz et al., Nature (London) 422, 48 (2003)). The angle resolved cross sections obtained for double ionization at 105 eV impact energy reveal, that the process is dominated by the mutual repulsion of the three final-state continuum electrons. However, signatures of more complex dynamics are also observed. The data provide an ultimate benchmark for recently developed theories treating the dynamical three- and four-body Coulomb problem.