https://doi.org/10.1140/epjs/s11734-022-00750-z
Regular Article
Strong field non-Franck–Condon ionization of H
: a semi-classical analysis
1
Institut des Sciences Moléculaires d’Orsay, Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, 91405, Orsay, France
2
Département de chimie, COPL, Université Laval, 1045, av. de la Médecine, G1V 0A6, Québec, QC, Canada
a
jean-nicolas.vigneau@universite-paris-saclay.fr
c
thanh-tung.nguyen-dang@chm.ulaval.ca
d
eric.charron@universite-paris-saclay.fr
Received:
22
June
2022
Accepted:
3
December
2022
Published online:
4
January
2023
Single ionization of H molecules exposed to strong and short laser pulses is investigated by a semi-classical method. Three laser characteristics are considered: (i) The carrier-wave frequency corresponds to wavelengths covering and bridging the two ionization regimes: From tunnel ionization (TI) at 800 nm to multiphoton ionization (MPI) at 266 nm. (ii) Values of the peak intensity are chosen within a window to eliminate competing double ionization processes. (iii) Particular attention is paid to the polarization of the laser field, which can be linearly or circularly polarized. The results and their interpretation concern two observables, namely the end-of-pulse total ionization probability and vibrational distribution generated in the cation H
. The most prominent findings are an increased ionization efficiency in linear polarization and a vibrational distribution of the cation that favors lower-lying levels than those that would be populated in a vertical (Franck–Condon) ionization, leading to non-Franck–Condon distributions, both in linear and circular polarizations.
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to EDP Sciences, Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2022. corrected publication 2023. Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.