Atomic structure dependence of nonsequential double ionization of He, Ne and Ar in strong laser pulses

The ion momentum spectra for nonsequential double ionization of rare gases (He, Ne and Ar) in 23 fs 795 nm laser pulses were measured in the intensity range 0.075-1.25 PW cm(-2). In the studies published, confusing differences in the shape of momentum distributions among different targets are consistently explained within a recollision scenario: excitation during recollision plus subsequent field ionization, not implemented in most theoretical approaches, evidently plays a decisive role for He and AT nonsequential double ionization whereas it plays only a minor role for Ne.