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The three-body Coulomb problem has been explored in kinematically complete experiments on single ionization of helium by 100 MeV/u C(6+) and 3.6 MeV/u Au(53+) impact. Low-energy electron emission ( E(e)<150 eV) as a function of the projectile deflection theta(p) (momentum transfer), i.e., the Bethe surface [15], has been mapped with Delta theta(p)+/-25 nanoradian resolution at extremely large perturbations ( 3.6 MeV/u Au(53+)) where single ionization occurs at impact parameters of typically 10 times the He K-shell radius. The experimental data are not in agreement with state-of-the-art continuum distorted wave-eikonal initial state theory.

We have performed a kinematically complete experiment and calculations on single ionization in 100 MeV/amu C6+ + He collisions. For electrons ejected into the scattering plane (defined by the initial and final projectile momentum vectors) our first- and higher-order calculations are in good agreement with the data. In the plane perpendicular to the scattering plane and containing the initial projectile axis a strong forward-backward asymmetry is observed. In this plane both the first-order and the higher-order calculations do not provide good agreement neither with the data nor amongst each other.

Intensity interferometry was applied to study electron correlations in doubly ionizing ion-atom collisions. In this method, the probability to find two electrons emitted in the same double ionization event with a certain momentum difference is compared to the corresponding probability for two uncorrelated electrons from two independent events. The ratio of both probabilities, the so-called correlation function, is found to sensitively reveal electron correlation effects, but it is rather insensitive to the collision dynamics.

The collision dynamics of He single ionization by 3.6 MeV/u Se 28ϩ impact was explored using the reaction microscope of the Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung, a high-resolution integrated multielectron recoil-ion momentum spectrometer. The complete three-particle final-state momentum distribution ͑nine Cartesian components p i ͒ was imaged with a resolution of ⌬p i ϷϮ0.1 a.u. by measuring the three momentum components of the emitted electron and the recoiling target ion in coincidence. The projectile energy loss has been determined on a level of ⌬E p /E p Ϸ10 Ϫ7 and projectile scattering angles as small as ⌬Ϸ10 Ϫ7 rad became accessible. The experimental data which are compared with results of classical trajectory Monte Carlo calculations reveal an unprecedented insight into the details of the electron emission and the collision dynamics for ionization of helium by fast heavy-ion impact.

Double ionization of He by 3-keV electron impact is explored in a kinematically complete experiment. The 12-dimensional, 4-particle final-state momentum space is mapped for two slowly ejected electrons ͑k b,c , 1.2 a.u.͒, the He 21 ion ͑k He , 5 a.u.͒ and the fast electron for all relative emission angles and energy partitions. Different reaction mechanisms are identified by examining the angular correlation between the slow electrons as a function of the momentum transfer. A fivefold differential cross section is presented for asymmetric energy sharing in coplanar geometry.[S0031-9007(99)08576-2] PACS numbers: 34.80.Dp Double ionization (DI) of helium, i.e., the breakup of the most simple atomic system containing more than one electron, is of basic importance for the understanding of correlated many-particle quantum systems under the action of time-dependent perturbations. It is for this reason that numerous studies have been devoted to He double ionization induced by projectiles as different as photons from threshold to tens of keV (see, e.g., [1]), ions ranging from keV protons (see, e.g., [2]) to GeV͞u U 921 [3], for electron [4], positron [5], and antiproton [6] impact. Recently, He 21 production in intense femtosecond laser fields was explored [7].The most detailed information and the most stringent test for theory are provided by kinematically complete experiments in which the energies and emission angles, i.e., the momenta of all participating particles, are determined in the final state. Such experiments, however, are extremely difficult to perform due to the small double ionization cross sections and the small phase space of the final continuum state which is mapped using conventional electron spectroscopy. For photoabsorption, which is the most simple among the above mentioned situations with only three particles in the final state, experiments have become possible since 1993 (see, e.g., [8]). For ion impact the first and only kinematically complete measurement was reported in 1996 [9] for a high incident charge state of 281. For electron impact, where the cross sections are small, the kinematically complete, so-called ͑e, 3e͒ experiments seemed to be beyond experimental capabilities for the helium target until recently when, besides the present study, Taouil and co-workers succeeded in observing ͑e, 3e͒ coincidence events from helium [10] (pioneering studies on argon were performed in 1989 [11] followed by a few other measurements for Kr, Ar, and Ne [12]).In this Letter we report on a kinematically complete experiment for double ionization of helium by 3-keV electron impact. A novel technique for studies of electron impact ionization, an electron-electron-recoil-ion coincidence [13], was used which has been successfully applied before to study ion induced single and multiple target ionization (for a recent review, see [14]). In the present experiment the entire momentum vectors k b , k c of two slowly outgoing electrons e b and e c ͑E b,c , 20 eV͒ emitted in a single ͑e, 3e͒ reaction have been detecte...

Single and double ionization of helium by 1 GeV͞nucleon U 921 impact was explored in a kinematically complete experiment. The relativistic ion generates a subattosecond (10 218 s) superintense (I . 10 19 W͞cm 2 ) electromagnetic pulse, which is interpreted as a field of equivalent photons (Weizsäcker-Williams method ). Cross sections, the emission characteristics of ions and electrons as well as momentum balances, are quantitatively discussed in terms of photoionization of the atom in this broadband, ultrashort virtual photon field. [S0031-9007(97)04437-2]

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