Ab initio study of time-dependent dynamics in strong-field triple ionization

An ab initio analysis of strong-field three-electron ionization in a restricted-dimensionality model reveals the dynamics of the ionization process and the dominant channels for double (DI) and triple ionization (TI). Simulations using wave functions that respect the Pauli principle show that the most likely channel is a sequence of single ionization (SI) and DI, while direct TI has a much lower probability. The dominant DI process has the highest probability for a singlet of up- and down-spin electrons. The results demonstrate the significance of the Pauli principle for the selection of dominant pathways in ionization and possibly other many-electron processes in strong fields.