125 research outputs found
Laser-induced nonsequential double ionization: kinematic constraints for the recollision-excitation-tunneling mechanism
We investigate the physical processes in which an electron, upon return to
its parent ion, promotes a second electron to an excited state, from which it
subsequently tunnels. Employing the strong-field approximation and saddle-point
methods, we perform a detailed analysis of the dynamics of the two electrons,
in terms of quantum orbits, and delimit constraints for their momentum
components parallel to the laser-field polarization. The kinetic energy of the
first electron, upon return, exhibits a cutoff slightly lower than ,
where is the ponderomotive energy, as in rescattered above-threshold
ionization (ATI). The second electron leaves the excited state in a direct
ATI-like process, with the maximal energy of . We also compute
electron-momentum distributions, whose maxima agree with our estimates and with
other methods.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figure
Quantum interference in laser-induced nonsequential double ionization in diatomic molecules: the role of alignment and orbital symmetry
We address the influence of the orbital symmetry and of the molecular
alignment with respect to the laser-field polarization on laser-induced
nonsequential double ionization of diatomic molecules, in the length and
velocity gauges. We work within the strong-field approximation and assume that
the second electron is dislodged by electron-impact ionization, and also
consider the classical limit of this model. We show that the electron-momentum
distributions exhibit interference maxima and minima due to the electron
emission at spatially separated centers. The interference patterns survive the
integration over the transverse momenta for a small range of alignment angles,
and are sharpest for parallel-aligned molecules. Due to the contributions of
transverse-momentum components, these patterns become less defined as the
alignment angle increases, until they disappear for perpendicular alignment.
This behavior influences the shapes and the peaks of the electron momentum
distributions.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures; some discussions have been extended and some
figures slightly modifie
Influence of asymmetry and nodal planes on high-harmonic generation in heteronuclear molecules
The relation between high-harmonic spectra and the geometry of the molecular
orbitals in position and momentum space is investigated. In particular we
choose two isoelectronic pairs of homonuclear and heteronuclear molecules, such
that the highest occupied molecular orbital of the former exhibit at least one
nodal plane. The imprint of such planes is a strong suppression in the harmonic
spectra, for particular alignment angles. We are able to identify two distinct
types of nodal planes. If the nodal planes are determined by the atomic
wavefunctions only, the angle for which the yield is suppressed will remain the
same for both types of molecules. In contrast, if they are determined by the
linear combination of atomic orbitals at different centers in the molecule,
there will be a shift in the angle at which the suppression occurs for the
heteronuclear molecules, with regard to their homonuclear counterpart. This
shows that, in principle, molecular imaging, which uses the homonuclear
molecule as a reference and enables one to observe the wavefunction distortions
in its heteronuclear counterpart, is possible.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures. Figs. 3, 5 and 6 have been simplified in order
to comply with the arXiv size requirement
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