High-order-harmonic generation from diatomic molecules in driving fields with nonvanishing ellipticity: A generalized interference condition
Year: 2013
Type: article
Abstract: We investigate the influence of intense driving fields whose components exhibit orthogonal polarizations on high-order-harmonic spectra from aligned diatomic molecules. We derive a generalized two-center interference condition, which accounts for $s\ensuremath{-}p$ mixing and the orbital symmetry, within the strong-field and the single-active electron approximation. We show that the nonvanishing ellipticity introduces an effective dynamic shift in the angle for which the two-center interference maxima and minima occur, with regard to the existing condition for linearly polarized fields. This shift depends on the ratio between the field-dressed momentum components of the returning electron parallel and perpendicular to the major ellipticity axis along each possible orbit. Because of this dependence, we find that there will be a blurring in the two-center interference minima, and that increasing ellipticity leads to splitting in such patterns. These features are investigated in detail for ${\mathrm{H}}_{2}$ and ${\mathrm{Ar}}_{2}$ in a bichromatic field composed of two orthogonally polarized waves.
Source: Physical Review A
Institutions: University College London, University of Leeds
Language: English
Subfield: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Awards: G3006992456, G3848438683, G9000303447
OpenAlex ID: W599090590