Asymmetric electron energy sharing in strong-field double ionization of helium

Abstract: With the classical three-dimensional ensemble model, we have investigated the microscopic recollision dynamics in nonsequential double ionization of helium by 800 nm laser pulses at 2.0 PW/cm^2. We demonstrate that the asymmetric energy sharing between the two electrons at recollision plays a decisive role in forming the experimentally observed V-shaped structure in the correlated longitudinal electron momentum spectrum at the high laser intensity [Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 263003 (2007)]. This asymmetric energy sharing recollision leaves footprints on the transverse electron momentum spectra, which provide a new insight into the attosecond three-body interactions.