Darmstadt 2008 – scientific programme

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SYKL: Symposium Kernphysik mit starken Laserfeldern

SYKL 2: Photo-nuclear reactions and MeV particle acceleration

SYKL 2.4: Invited Talk

Tuesday, March 11, 2008, 12:30–13:00, 1A

Laser-Driven Recollisions: From Atomic to Nuclear Physics and Beyond — •Carsten Müller, Atif Shahbaz, Guido R. Mocken, Karen Z. Hatsagortsyan, and Christoph H. Keitel — Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Heidelberg

The interaction of atoms and molecules with intense laser fields can lead to electron recollisions with the parent ionic core due to the oscillating nature of laser fields. These collisions give rise to various nonlinear phenomena such as above-threshold ionization and high-harmonic generation. In the talk we report on recent theoretical studies on potential applications of the recollision mechanism in nuclear and high-energy physics [1,2]. To this end, the interaction of laser pulses with atoms, highly-charged ions, and exotic systems like positronium and muonic atoms is considered. It is shown that under suitable conditions, nuclear excitation can occur by the electronic charge cloud that is driven across the nucleus by the laser field. Moreover, the high-harmonic response from compact systems like muonic atoms exhibits signatures of the binding nucleus which might be useful for determination of unknown nuclear properties [1]. Finally, the recollision scheme can be extended to the highly relativistic regime by application of positronium atoms. This way, even particle reactions like muon production can be triggered in laser-driven electron-positron collisions [2].

[1] A. Shahbaz, C. Müller, A. Staudt, T. J. Bürvenich, and C. H. Keitel, Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 263901 (2007)

[2] C. Müller, K. Z. Hatsagortsyan, and C. H. Keitel, Phys. Lett. B, accepted (arXiv:0705.0917)