The time-dependent complete-active-space self-consistent-field (TD-CASSCF) method for the description of multielectron dynamics in intense laser fields is presented, and a comprehensive description of the method is given. It introduces the concept of frozen-core (to model tightly bound electrons with no response to the field), dynamical-core (to model electrons tightly bound but responding to the field), and active (fully correlated to describe ionizing electrons) orbital subspaces, allowing compact yet accurate representation of ionization dynamics in many-electron systems. The classification into the subspaces can be done flexibly, according to simulated physical situations and desired accuracy, and the multiconfiguration time-dependent Hartree-Fock (MCTDHF) approach is included as a special case. To assess its performance, we apply the TD-CASSCF method to the ionization dynamics of one-dimensional lithium hydride (LiH) and LiH dimer models, and confirm that the present method closely reproduces rigorous MCTDHF results if active orbital space is chosen large enough to include appreciably ionizing electrons. The TD-CASSCF method will open a way to the first-principles theoretical study of intense-field-induced ultrafast phenomena in realistic atoms and molecules.

• Received 19 April 2013

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.88.023402