skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Strong-field ionization of molecules in circularly polarized few-cycle pulses

Journal Article · · Physical Review. A
;  [1]
  1. Theoretical Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545 (United States)

We have numerically investigated ionization of molecules exposed to circularly polarized (CP) intense few-cycle pulses (FCPs) by solving the three-dimensional time-dependent Schroedinger equation. The resulting photoelectron spectra exhibit an interesting ''plateau'' feature that does not appear for atoms exposed to circularly-polarized laser fields. The origin comes from the intense CP field ionizing a portion of the electron wave packet about one nuclear center and driving it through the other. Moreover, the angular distribution of photoelectrons gives an indication of the carrier-envelope phase of the applied FCP, which implies that steering of photoelectrons in space can be achieved by controlling the FCP phase.

OSTI ID:
20974600
Journal Information:
Physical Review. A, Vol. 73, Issue 2; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.73.023405; (c) 2006 The American Physical Society; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1050-2947
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English