Breakdown of sequential tunnel ionization in ultrashort electromagnetic pulses

We consider double ionization of negative bromine ion in intense low-frequency electromagnetic fields.

By solving numerically the two-electron time-dependent Schr{\" o}dinger equation we demonstrate that while for pulses of a few tens of femtoseconds duration and longer the sequential single-electron approximation perfectly describes the ionization dynamics, for pulses as short as a few femtoseconds this picture breaks down entirely, and the electron-electron interaction suppresses the rate of ionization by roughly one order of magnitude.

We also show clear signatures of the collective tunneling effect in the photoelectron density distribution.

This counter-intuitive channel of ionization opens up due to the electron-electron repulsion in the direction lateral to the applied electric field.