Ionization Suppression of Diatomic Molecules in an Intense Midinfrared Laser Field

ZhiYang Lin, XinYan Jia, ChuanLiang Wang, ZiLong Hu, HuiPeng Kang, Wei Quan, XuanYang Lai, XiaoJun Liu, Jing Chen, Bin Zeng, Wei Chu, JinPing Yao, Ya Cheng, and ZhiZhan Xu

Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 223001 – Published 29 May 2012

Abstract

Diatomic molecules (e.g., $O_{2}$ ) in an intense laser field exhibit a peculiar suppressed ionization behavior compared to their companion atoms. Several physical models have been proposed to account for this suppression, while no consensus has been achieved. In this Letter, we aim to clarify the underlying mechanisms behind this molecular ionization suppression. Experimental data recorded at midinfrared laser wavelength and its comparison with that at near-infrared wavelength revealed a peculiar wavelength and intensity dependence of the suppressed ionization of $O_{2}$ with respect to its companion atom of Xe, while $N_{2}$ behaves like a structureless atom. It is found that the $S$ -matrix theory calculation can reproduce well the experimental observations and unambiguously identifies the significant role of two-center interference effect in the ionization suppression of $O_{2}$ .

Received 8 November 2011

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.223001

Authors & Affiliations

ZhiYang Lin^1,6, XinYan Jia^2,3, ChuanLiang Wang^1,6, ZiLong Hu^1,6, HuiPeng Kang¹, Wei Quan¹, XuanYang Lai¹, XiaoJun Liu^1,*, Jing Chen^4,5,†, Bin Zeng², Wei Chu², JinPing Yao², Ya Cheng^2,‡, and ZhiZhan Xu^2,§

¹State Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance and Atomic and Molecular Physics, Wuhan Institute of Physics and Mathematics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China
²State Key Laboratory of High Field Laser Physics, Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 800-211, Shanghai 201800, China
³Quantum Optoelectronics Laboratory, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu 610031, China
⁴Key Laboratory of High Energy Density Physics Simulation, Center for Applied Physics and Technology, Peking University, Beijing 100084, China
⁵Institute of Applied Physics and Computational Mathematics, P.O. Box 8009, Beijing 100088, China
⁶Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100080, China

^*xjliu@wipm.ac.cn
^†chen_jing@iapcm.ac.cn
^‡ycheng-45277@hotmail.com
^§zzxu@mail.shcnc.ac.cn

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Vol. 108, Iss. 22 — 1 June 2012

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