Ionization of 1D and 3D oriented asymmetric top molecules by intense circularly polarized femtosecond laser pulses

Abstract

We present a combined experimental and theoretical study on strong-field ionization of a three-dimensionally oriented asymmetric top molecule, benzonitrile (C${}_7$H${}_5$N), by circularly polarized, nonresonant femtosecond laser pulses. Prior to the interaction with the strong field, the molecules are quantum-state selected using a deflector, and 3-dimensionally (3D) aligned and oriented adiabatically using an elliptically polarized laser pulse in combination with a static electric field. A characteristic splitting in the molecular frame photoelectron momentum distribution reveals the position of the nodal planes of the molecular orbitals from which ionization occurs. The experimental results are supported by a theoretical tunneling model that includes and quantifies the splitting in the momentum distribution. The focus of the present article is to understand strong-field ionization from 3D-oriented asymmetric top molecules, in particular the suppression of electron emission in nodal planes of molecular orbitals. In the preceding article [Dimitrovski et al., Phys. Rev. A 83, 023405 (2011)] the focus is to understand the strong-field ionization of one-dimensionally-oriented polar molecules, in particular asymmetries in the emission direction of the photoelectrons.

12 pages, 9 figures

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Cited by in corpus (16)

• Manipulation of Molecules with Electromagnetic Fields
• Control and femtosecond time-resolved imaging of torsion in a chiral molecule
• Alignment of D-state Rydberg molecules
• Orientation-dependent ionization yields from strong-field ionization of fixed-in-space linear and asymmetric top molecules
• Ionization of oriented carbonyl-sulfide molecules by intense circularly polarized laser pulses
• Making the best of mixed-field orientation of polar molecules: A recipe for achieving adiabatic dynamics in an electrostatic field combined with laser pulses
• Gas-phase structural isomer identification by Coulomb explosion of aligned molecules
• Two-center minima in harmonic spectra from aligned polar molecules
• Theoretical description of adiabatic laser alignment and mixed-field orientation: the need for a non-adiabatic model
• Laser-polarization-dependent photoelectron angular distributions from polar molecules
• Rotational spectrum of asymmetric top molecules in combined static and laser fields
• Molecular alignment using circularly polarized laser pulses
• Rotational dynamics of an asymmetric top molecule in parallel electric and non-resonant laser fields
• Theoretical description of mixed-field orientation of asymmetric top molecules: a time-dependent study
• Multielectron effects in strong-field ionization of benzene derivatives
• Laser-induced molecular alignment in the presence of chaotic rotational dynamics