Intermediate-State Coulomb-Corrected Strong-Field Approximation for Nonsequential Double Ionization

Abstract

We present a refined strong-field approximation (SFA) theory incorporating the intermediate-state Coulomb interaction for nonsequential double ionization (NSDI). By introducing the Coulomb−Volkov wave function into the intense-field many-body S-matrix theory, we develop an intermediate-state Coulomb-corrected strong-field approximation (ICSFA) to address the long-standing deficiency of neglecting the Coulomb potential acting on the recolliding electron. Using the recollision excitation with subsequent ionization (RESI) mechanism in helium as a benchmark, we perform a systematic comparison between the conventional SFA and the ICSFA. The correlated electron momentum distributions (CEMDs) calculated via ICSFA show a significant redistribution of electron yield toward high-momentum regions and off-axis quadrants, which aligns quantitatively with experimental observations, whereas the SFA fails to reproduce these features. Concurrently, the joint energy distributions (JEDs) manifest a corresponding evolution. Analysis reveals that the Coulomb potential promotes large-angle scattering, thereby reshaping the CEMD and the JED. Furthermore, the ICSFA reveals a substantial enhancement of multiple-return recollision (MRR) trajectories, stemming from the combined effects of Coulomb focusing (manifested through the normalization factor) and the energy-dependent enhancement of the inelastic scattering cross-section. Our work establishes that the intermediate-state Coulomb interaction is indispensable for a quantitatively accurate description of strong-field correlated electron dynamics.