Mainz 2026 – scientific programme

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MO: Fachverband Molekülphysik

MO 7: Collisions, Scattering and Correlation Phenomena II (joint session A/MO)

MO 7.3: Talk

Monday, March 2, 2026, 17:30–17:45, N 2

Coherent Ionization of Atoms by Dense and Compact Beams of Extremely Relativistic Electrons — •Sami Kim, Carsten Müller, and Alexander B. Voitkiv — Institut für Theoretische Physik I, Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf

Coherent ionization of atoms by very dense and compact beams of highly relativistic electrons is studied [1]. We consider and compare two coherent electron-induced ionization mechanisms, tunnel/over-barrier ionization and coherent impact ionization. In both mechanisms, a significant fraction of the beam electrons acts coherently, leading to a substantial ionization enhancement. The low-frequency components of the total beam field can coherently induce tunneling in target atoms, while the high-frequency components enable coherent impact ionization. The processes are shown to depend very sensitively on the spatiotemporal structure of these novel electron beams, which offers a means for their characterization.

[1] S. Kim, C. Müller and A. B. Voitkiv; arXiv:2508.17192v2

Keywords: dense relativistic electron beams; ionization of atoms; coherence effects