We carry out a theoretical study of the effect of a strong laser field on charge transfer in collisions of doubly charged helium ions with helium at keV energies, using a close-coupled treatment with a diabatic molecular wave function basis in the semiclassical impact parameter approximation, Our results show significant effects of the laser intensity, wavelength and the orientation of the (linear) laser polarization on the charge transfer cross-sections, Our results also indicate the possibility of an experimental test for differentiating between the effects of the minimal coupling and the multipolar matter-radiation interactions on ion-atom collision processes, PACS 34,70 -Charge transfer, PACS 34,50.Rk -Laser-modified scattering and reactions, PACS 34,80,Qb -Laser-modified scattering,
L -IntroductionA theoretical study was carried out some time ago in our group [1, 2] on the effect of an intense laser radiation on the charge transfer reaction in collisions of singly charged helium ions with neutral He atoms, An interesting effect was found on the dependence of the charge transfer cross-section on the laser intensity and wavelength, pointing to the possibility of laser control of the reaction, In this paper we present our findings on the effect of a laser field on the charge transfer reactions in a doubly charged ion-atom collision-specifically, the He++ -He system at keY energies, A diabatic molecular wave function representation has recently been developed (*) The authors of this paper have agreed to not receive the proofs for correction,