Abstract

The present work focuses on the role of nuclear coordinates in intense-field ionization of diatomic molecules and their ions. The major conclusion of our study is that the intense-field electron dynamics in a double-well potential of a diatomic molecule (molecular ion) are qualitatively different from the electron dynamics in a single-well potential of an atom. This qualitative difference leads to a dramatic quantitative consequence. Namely, there is a critical window of internuclear distances in which the ionization rates for a diatomic molecular ion are many (e.g., 4) orders of magnitude higher than those at large internuclear distances, R →∞, and those near the equilibrium distance R_eq).

© 1995 Optical Society of America