Abstract
Theoretical study on in an intense infrared laser field on the attosecond time scale reveals that the molecular ion shows multiple bursts of ionization within a half-cycle of the laser field oscillation, in contrast to the widely accepted tunnel ionization picture for an atom. These bursts are found to be induced by transient localization of the electron at one of the nuclei, and a relation between the time instants of the localization and the vector potential of the laser light is derived. A scheme is proposed to probe the localization dynamics by an extreme ultraviolet laser pulse.
- Received 14 June 2010
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.105.203004
© 2010 The American Physical Society