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Science 6 February 2004:
Vol. 303. no. 5659, pp. 813 - 815
DOI: 10.1126/science.1092220
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Reports

Probing Two-Electron Dynamics of an Atom

S. N. Pisharody and R. R. Jones*

Coherent short-pulse laser excitation has been used to control the approximate energy and relative proximity of two valence electrons within the same alkaline-earth atom, thereby providing insight into the dynamical evolution of a three-body Coulomb system. Our time-domain experiments enable direct experimental study of the electron dynamics at the classical limit of a two-electron atom. As an example, we look at the mechanism of autoionization for one two-electron configuration class and find that the doubly excited atom decays through a single violent electron-electron collision rather than a gradual exchange of energy between the electrons.

Department of Physics, University of Virginia, 382 McCormick Road, Charlottesville, VA 22904–4714, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: rrj3c{at}virginia.edu

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
The Simplest Double Slit: Interference and Entanglement in Double Photoionization of H2.
D. Akoury, K. Kreidi, T. Jahnke, Th. Weber, A. Staudte, M. Schoffler, N. Neumann, J. Titze, L. Ph. H. Schmidt, A. Czasch, et al. (2007)
Science 318, 949-952
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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)