Relativistic Photoionization Computations with the Time Dependent Dirac Equation

Abstract

Ionization of inner shell electrons by laser fields often occurs in the relativistic regime. A complete description of this phenomenon requires both relativistic and quantum mechanical treatment. The Dirac equation describes the motion of a spin one-half particle in an external electromagnetic field. The stationary states in both Coulomb and soft-core potentials are solved either analytically or numerically. These are used as initial conditions in time dependent calculations. It is found that, at least in one case, two-dimensional simulations predict a greater ionization rate than the one predicted by the Coulomb corrected strong field approximation. Computational performance is important due to the rapid oscillations in a relativistic wavefunction. Multiple General Purpose Graphical Processing Units are utilized in parallel to speed up calculations.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Oct 12, 2016
Accession Number
ADA640859

Entities

People

  • Bahman Hafizi
  • D. Gordon

Organizations

  • United States Naval Research Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Angular Momentum
  • Dirac Equation
  • Eigenvalues
  • Electric Fields
  • Electromagnetic Fields
  • Electrons
  • Energy Levels
  • Equations
  • Magnetic Fields
  • Momentum
  • Physics
  • Quantum Mechanics
  • Quantum Numbers
  • Quantum Properties
  • Radiation
  • Three Dimensional
  • Total Angular Momentum

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Calculus or Mathematical Analysis
  • Plasma Physics / Magnetohydrodynamics

Technology Areas

  • Directed Energy
  • Microelectronics
  • Quantum Computing