Theory of tunneling ionization of molecules: Weak-field asymptotics including dipole effects

Oleg I. Tolstikhin, Toru Morishita, and Lars Bojer Madsen
Phys. Rev. A 84, 053423 – Published 18 November 2011

Abstract

The formulation of the parabolic adiabatic expansion approach to the problem of ionization of atomic systems in a static electric field, originally developed for the axially symmetric case [Phys. Rev. A 82, 023416 (2010)], is generalized to arbitrary potentials. This approach is used to rederive the asymptotic theory of tunneling ionization in the weak-field limit. In the atomic case, the resulting formulas for the ionization rate coincide with previously known results. In addition, the present theory accounts for the possible existence of a permanent dipole moment of the unperturbed system and, hence, applies to polar molecules. Accounting for dipole effects constitutes an important difference of the present theory from the so-called molecular Ammosov-Delone-Krainov theory. The theory is illustrated by comparing exact and asymptotic results for a set of model polar molecules and a realistic molecular ion HeH2+ in the 2pσ state.

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  • Received 10 October 2011

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.84.053423

©2011 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Oleg I. Tolstikhin1, Toru Morishita2, and Lars Bojer Madsen3

  • 1National Research Center “Kurchatov Institute,” Kurchatov Square 1, Moscow 123182, Russia
  • 2Department of Engineering Science, The University of Electro-Communications, 1-5-1 Chofu-ga-oka, Chofu-shi, Tokyo 182-8585, Japan
  • 3Lundbeck Foundation Theoretical Center for Quantum System Research, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Aarhus University, Denmark

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Issue

Vol. 84, Iss. 5 — November 2011

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