We study numerically the interaction between an intense circularly polarized laser field and an electron moving in a potential which has a discrete cylindrical symmetry with respect to the laser pulse propagation direction. This setup serves as a simple model, e.g., for benzene and other aromatic compounds. From general symmetry considerations, within a Floquet approach, selection rules for the harmonic generation [O. Alon Phys. Rev. Lett. 80 3743 (1998)] have been derived recently. Instead, the results we present in this paper have been obtained solving the time-dependent Schroedinger equation ab initio for realistic pulse shapes. We find a rich structure which is not always dominated by the laser harmonics.
When a laser pulse impinges on a molecule which is invariant under certain symmetry operations selection rules for harmonic generation (HG) arise. In other words: symmetry controls which channels are open for the deposition and emission of laser energy---with the possible application of filtering or amplification. We review the derivation of HG selection rules and study numerically the interaction of laser pulses with an effectively one-dimensional ring-shaped model molecule. The harmonic yields obtained from that model and their dependence on laser frequency and intensity are discussed. In a …
We demonstrate that judicious shaping of a nanosecond-time-scale frequency chirp can dramatically enhance the formation rate of ultracold $^{87}$Rb$_{2}$ molecules. Starting with ultracold $^{87}$Rb atoms, we apply pulses of frequency-chirped light to first photoassociate the atoms into excited molecules and then, later in the chirp, de-excite these molecules into a high vibrational level of the lowest triplet state, $a \, ^{3}Σ_{u}^{+}$. The enhancing chirp shape passes through the absorption and stimulated emission transitions relatively slowly, thus increasing their adiabaticity, but jumps …
We report on coherent control of excitation processes of translationally ultracold rubidium dimers in a magneto-optical trap by using shaped femtosecond laser pulses. Evolution strategies are applied in a feedback loop in order to optimize the photoexcitation of the Rb2 molecules, which subsequently undergo ionization or fragmentation. A superior performance of the resulting pulses compared to unshaped pulses of the same pulse energy is obtained by distributing the energy among specific spectral components. The demonstration of coherent control to ultracold ensembles opens a path to actively i…
We develop the strong-field approximation for high-order harmonic generation in hydrogen molecules, including the vibrational motion and the laser-induced coupling of the lowest two Born-Oppenheimer states in the molecular ion that is created by the initial ionization of the molecule. We show that the field dressing becomes important at long laser wavelengths ($\approx 2 μ$m), leading to an overall reduction of harmonic generation and modifying the ratio of harmonic signals from different isotopes.
We identify that both the dynamic core polarization and dynamic orbital deformation are important in the orientation-dependent high-harmonic generation of CO molecules subjected to intense few cycle laser fields. These polarization dynamics allow for the observation of strong orientation effects and dynamic minimum in the harmonic spectra. The generated attosecond pulses can be greatly affected by these multielectron effects. This work sheds light on future development of dynamic orbital imaging on attosecond time scale.
The selection rules of high harmonic generation (HHG) are investigated using three-dimensional time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT). From the harmonic spectra obtained with various real molecules and different forms of laser fields, several factors that contribute to selection rules are revealed. Extending the targets to stereoscopic molecules, it is shown that the allowed harmonics are dependent on the symmetries of the projections of molecules. For laser fields, the symmetries contributing to the selection rules are discussed according to Lissajous figures and their dynamical dir…
We consider harmonics generation and wave-mixing by two-color multi photon resonant excitation of three-level atoms/molecules in strong laser fields. The coherent part of the spectra corresponding to multicolor harmonics generation is investigated. The obtained analytical results on the basis of generalized rotating wave approximation are in a good agreement with numerical calculations. The results applied to the hydrogen atom and homonuclear diatomic molecular ion show that one can achieve efficient generation of moderately high multicolor harmonics via multiphoton resonant excitation by appr…
We report the first experimental observation of frequency shift in high order harmonic generation (HHG) from isotopic molecules H2 and D2 . It is found that harmonics generated from the isotopic molecules exhibit obvious spectral red shift with respect to those from Ar atom. The red shift is further demonstrated to arise from the laser-driven nuclear motion in isotopic molecules. By utilizing the red shift observed in experiment, we successfully retrieve the nuclear vibrations in H2 and D2, which agree well with the theoretical calculations from the time-dependent Schrodinger equation (TDSE) w…
We review on the theoretical status of intense laser orientation and alignment. The evolution of the rotational wave packet and its dynamics leading to orientation and alignment is the topic of the present discussion. The major part of the article basically presents an overview on recent theoretical progress in controlling the orientation and alignment dynamics of a molecule by means of shaped laser pulses. The various theoretical approaches that lead to orientation and alignment ranging from static electrostatic field in combination with laser field(s), combination of orienting and aligning f…
In the present paper, we investigate the high-order harmonic generation (HHG) from diatomic molecules with large internuclear distance using a strong field approximation (SFA) model. We find that the hump and dip structure emerges in the plateau region of the harmonic spectrum, and the location of this striking structure is sensitive to the laser intensity. Our model analysis reveals that two-center interference as well as the interference between different recombination electron trajectories are responsible for the unusual enhanced or suppressed harmonic yield at a certain order, and these in…
The generation of high-order harmonics in diatomic molecules is investigated within the framework of the strong-field approximation. We show that the conventional saddle-point approximation is not suitable for large internuclear distances. An adapted saddle-point method that takes into account the molecular structure is presented. We analyze the predictions for the harmonic-generation spectra in both the velocity and the length gauge. At large internuclear separations, we compare the resulting cutoffs with the predictions of the simple-man's model. Good agreement is obtained only by using the …
Some of us have recently reported in Science 321 232 (2008) vibrational cooling of translationally cold Cs_2 molecules into the lowest vibrational level v=0 of the singlet X 1Sigma_g ground electronic state. Starting from a sample of cold molecules produced in a collection of vibrational levels of the ground state, our method was based on repeated optical pumping by laser light with a spectrum broad enough to excite all populated vibrational levels but frequency-limited in such a way to eliminate transitions from v=0 level, in which molecules accumulate. In this paper this method is generalize…
The present work reports on the generation of short-pulse coherent extreme ultraviolet radiation of controlled polarization. The proposed strategy is based on high-order harmonics generated in pre-aligned molecules. Field-free molecular alignment produced by a short linearly-polarized infrared laser pulse is used to break the isotropy of a gas medium. Driving the aligned molecules by a circularly-polarized infrared pulse allows to transfer the anisotropy of the medium to the polarization of the generated harmonic light. The ellipticity of the latter is controlled by adjusting the angular distr…
We demonstrate a simple method to improve the Lewenstein model for the description of high-order harmonic generation (HHG). It is shown that HHG spectra can be expressed as the product of a returning electron wave packet and the photo-recombination cross sections, where the former can be extracted from the Lewenstein model. By replacing plane waves with scattering waves in the calculation of recombination matrix elements, we showed that the resulting HHG spectra agree well with those from solving the time-dependent Schrödinger equation. The improved model can be used for quantitative calculati…
We present a theoretical model of high-harmonic generation from diatomic molecules. The theory includes effects of alignment as well as nuclear motion and is used to predict results for N$_2$, O$_2$, H$_2$ and D$_2$. The results show that the alignment dependence of high-harmonics is governed by the symmetry of the highest occupied molecular orbital and that the inclusion of the nuclear motion in the theoretical description generally reduces the intensity of the harmonic radiation. We compare our model with experimental results on N$_2$ and O$_2$, and obtain very good agreement.
We present the experimental and theoretical details of our recent published letter [Phys. Rev. Lett. 115. 123002] on synchronized high-harmonic and terahertz-wave spectroscopy (HATS) from nonadiabatically aligned nitrogen molecules in dual-color laser fields. Associating the alignment-angle dependent terahertz wave generation with the synchronizing high-harmonic signal, the angular differential photoionization cross section (PICS) for molecules can be reconstructed, and the minima of the angle on PICS show great convergence between the theoretical predictions and the experimental deduced resul…
This tutorial presents the most important aspects of the molecular self-probing paradigm, which views the process of high harmonic generation as "a molecule being probed by one of its own electrons". Since the properties of the electron wavepacket acting as a probe allow a combination of attosecond and Ångström resolutions in measurements, this idea bears great potential for the observation, and possibly control, of ultrafast quantum dynamics in molecules at the electronic level. Theoretical as well as experimental methods and concepts at the basis of self-probing measurements are introduced. …
We study high-order harmonic generation (HHG) from aligned molecules in strong elliptically polarized laser fields numerically and analytically. Our simulations show that the spectra and polarization of HHG depend strongly on the molecular alignment and the laser ellipticity. In particular, for small laser ellipticity, large ellipticity of harmonics with high intensity is observed for parallel alignment, with forming a striking ellipticity hump around the threshold. We show that the interplay of the molecular structure and two-dimensional electron motion plays an important role here. This phen…
We extend a model of two-center interference to include the superposition of opposite orientations in aligned polar molecules. We show that the position of the minimum in the harmonic spectrum from both aligned and oriented CO depends strongly on the relative recombination strength at different atoms, not just the relative phase. We reinterpret the minimum in aligned CO as an interference between opposite orientations, and obtain good agreement with numerical calculations. Inclusion of the first-order Stark effect shifts the position of the interference minimum in aligned CO even though aligne…
We analyze the influence of different recombination scenarios, involving one or two centers, on high-order harmonic generation (HHG) in diatomic molecules, for different values of the internuclear separation. We work within the strong-field approximation, and employ modified saddle-point equations, in which the structure of the molecule is incorporated. We find that the two-center interference patterns, attributed to high-order harmonic emission at spatially separated centers, are formed by the quantum interference of the orbits starting at a center $C_{j}$ and finishing at a different center …
Using a quantum mechanical three-step model we present numerical calculations on the high-harmonic generation from four polyatomic molecules. Ethylene (C$_2$H$_4$) serves as an example where orbital symmetry directly affects the harmonic yield. We treat the case of methane (CH$_4$) to address the high-harmonic generation resulting from a molecule with degenerate orbitals. To this end we illustrate how the single orbital contributions show up in the total high-harmonic signal. This example illustrates the importance of adding coherently amplitude contributions from the individual degenerate orb…
Asymmetric molecules look different when viewed from one side or the other. This difference influences the electronic structure of the valence electrons, thereby giving stereo sensitivity to chemistry and biology. We show that attosecond and re-collision science provides a detailed and sensitive probe of electronic asymmetry. On each 1/2 cycle of an intense light pulse, laser-induced tunnelling extracts an electron wave packet from the molecule. When the electron wave packet recombines, alternately from one side of the molecule or the other, its amplitude and phase asymmetry determines the eve…
Accurate molecular imaging via high-order harmonic generation relies on comparing the harmonic emission from a molecule and an adequate reference system. However, an ideal reference atom with the same ionization properties as the molecule does not always exist. We show that for suitably designed, very short laser pulses, a one-to-one mapping between high-order harmonic frequencies and electron momenta in above-threshold ionization exists. Comparing molecular and atomic momentum distributions then provides the electron return amplitude in the molecule for every harmonic frequency. We show that …
A recent paper reported elliptically polarized high-order harmonics from aligned N$_2$ using a linearly polarized driving field [X. Zhou \emph{et al.}, Phys. Rev. Lett. \textbf{102}, 073902 (2009)]. This observation cannot be explained in the standard treatment of the Lewenstein model and has been ascribed to many-electron effects or the influence of the Coulomb force on the continuum electron. We show that non-vanishing ellipticity naturally appears within the Lewenstein model when using a multi-center stationary phase method for treating the dynamics of the continuum electron. The reason for…
Isotropic gases irradiated by long pulses of intense IR light can generate very high harmonics of the incident field. It is generally accepted that, due to the symmetry of the generating medium, be it an atomic or an isotropic molecular gas, only odd harmonics of the driving field can be produced. Here we show how the interplay of electronic and nuclear dynamics can lead to a marked breakdown of this standard picture: a substantial part of the harmonic spectrum can consist of even rather than odd harmonics. We demonstrate the effect using ab-initio solutions of the time-dependent Schrödinger e…
We illustrate an iterative method for retrieving the internuclear separations of N$_2$, O$_2$ and CO$_2$ molecules using the high-order harmonics generated from these molecules by intense infrared laser pulses. We show that accurate results can be retrieved with a small set of harmonics and with one or few alignment angles of the molecules. For linear molecules the internuclear separations can also be retrieved from harmonics generated using isotropically distributed molecules. By extracting the transition dipole moment from the high-order harmonic spectra, we further demonstrated that it is p…
We analyze the imprint of nodal planes in high-order harmonic spectra from aligned diatomic molecules in intense laser fields whose components exhibit orthogonal polarizations. We show that the typical suppression in the spectra associated to nodal planes is distorted, and that this distortion can be employed to map the electron's angle of return to its parent ion. This investigation is performed semi-analytically at the single-molecule response and single-active orbital level, using the strong-field approximation and the steepest descent method. We show that the velocity form of the dipole op…
Experiments have shown that the internal vibrational state of a molecule can affect the intensity of high harmonic light generated from that molecule. This paper presents a model which explains this modulation in terms of interference between different vibrational states occurring during the high harmonic process. In addition, a semiclassical model of the continuum electron propagation is developed which connects with rigorous treatments of the electron-ion scattering.
We investigate high-order harmonic spectra from aligned diatomic molecules in intense driving fields whose components have orthogonal polarizations. We focus on how the driving-field ellipticity influences structural interference patterns in a macroscopic medium. In a previous publication [Phys. Rev. A 88, 023404 (2013)] we have shown that the non-vanishing 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. In this work we show through simulation that …
Present photoionization experiments cannot measure molecular frame photoelectron angular distributions (MFPAD) from the outermost valence electrons of molecules. We show that details of the MFPAD can be retrieved with high-order harmonics generated by infrared lasers from aligned molecules. Using accurately calculated photoionization transition dipole moments for fixed-in-space molecules, we show that the dependence of the magnitude and phase of the high-order harmonics on the alignment angle of the molecules observed in recent experiments can be quantitatively reproduced. This result provides…
Using dynamical Hartree-Fock mean-field theory, we study the high-harmonic generation (HHG) in the fullerene molecules C$_{60}$ and C$_{70}$ under strong pump wave driving. We consider a strong-field regime and show that the output harmonic radiation exhibits multiple plateaus, whose borders are defined by the molecular excitonic lines and cutoff energies within each plateau scale linearly with the field strength amplitude. In contrast to atomic cases for the fullerene molecule, with the increase of the pump wave photon energy the cutoff harmonic energy is increased. We also show that with the…
We investigate the process of circularly polarized high harmonic generation in molecules using a bicircular laser field. In this context, we show that molecules offer a very robust framework for the production of circularly polarized harmonics, provided their symmetry is compatible with that of the laser field. Using a discrete time-dependent symmetry analysis, we show how all the features (harmonic order and polarization) of spectra can be explained and predicted. The symmetry analysis is generic and can easily be applied to other target and/or field configurations.
We present theoretical calculations for polarization and ellipticity of high-order harmonics from aligned N$_2$, CO$_2$, and O$_2$ molecules generated by linearly polarized lasers. Within the rescattering model, the two polarization amplitudes of the harmonics are determined by the photo-recombination amplitudes for photons emitted parallel and perpendicular to the direction of the {\em same} returning electron wave packet. Our results show clear species-dependent polarization states, in excellent agreement with experiments. We further note that the measured polarization ellipse of the harmoni…
High-order harmonic generation by a bicircular field, which consists of two coplanar counter-rotating circularly polarized fields of frequency $rω$ and $sω$ ($r$ and $s$ are integers), is investigated for a polyatomic molecule. This field possesses dynamical symmetry, which can be adjusted to the symmetry of the molecular Hamiltonian and used to investigate the molecular symmetry. For polyatomic molecules having the $C_{r+s}$ symmetry only the harmonics $n=q(r+s)\pm r$, $q=1,2,\ldots$, are emitted having the ellipticity $\varepsilon_n=\pm 1$. We illustrate this using the example of the planar …
Unraveling and controlling chemical dynamics requires techniques to image structural changes of molecules with femtosecond temporal and picometer spatial resolution. Ultrashort-pulse x-ray free-electron lasers have significantly advanced the field by enabling advanced pump-probe schemes. There is an increasing interest in using table-top photon sources enabled by high-harmonic generation of ultrashort-pulse lasers for such studies. We present a novel high-harmonic source driven by a 100 kHz fiber laser system, which delivers 10$^{11}$ photons/s in a single 1.3 eV bandwidth harmonic at 68.6 eV.…
An important goal in molecular physics and chemistry today is to obtain structure-dependent information about molecular function to obtain a deeper understanding into chemical reactions. However, until now, asymmetric tops, which comprise the widest and most general class of molecules, remain principally unexplored. This gap is particularly evident in high harmonic generation (HHG). HHG has successfully obtained structural information about electron hole pairs or orbitals for simple linear molecules. Unfortunately, for more complicated molecules, the emission from different molecular direction…
We theoretically investigate the interference effect of high-order harmonics generated from molecules at different alignment angles. It is shown that the interference of the harmonic emissions from molecules aligned at different angles can significantly modulate the spectra and result in the anomalous harmonic cutoffs observed in a recent experiment [ Nature Phys. 7, 822 (2011) ]. The shift of the spectral minimum position with decreasing the degree of alignment is also explained by the interference effect of the harmonic emissions.
We study high-order harmonic generation in aligned molecules close to the ionization threshold. Two distinct contributions to the harmonic signal are observed, which show very different responses to molecular alignment and ellipticity of the driving field. We perform a classical electron trajectory analysis, taking into account the significant influence of the Coulomb potential on the strong-field-driven electron dynamics. The two contributions are related to primary ionization and excitation processes, offering a deeper understanding of the origin of high harmonics near the ionization thresho…
We introduce and demonstrate a new approach to measuring coherent electron wave packets using high-harmonic spectroscopy. By preparing a molecule in a coherent superposition of electronic states, we show that electronic coherence opens previously unobserved high-harmonic-generation channels that connect distinct but coherently related electronic states. Performing the measurements in dynamically aligned nitric oxide (NO) molecules we observe the complex temporal evolution of the electronic coherence under coupling to nuclear motion. Choosing a weakly allowed transition to prepare the wave pack…
We show that the dependence of high-order harmonic generation (HHG) on the molecular orientation can be understood within a theoretical treatment that does not involve the strong field of the laser. The results for H_2 show excellent agreement with time-dependent strong field calculations for model molecules, and this motivates a prediction for the orientation dependence of HHG from the N_2 3s_g valence orbital. For both molecules, we find that the polarization of recombination photons is influenced by the molecular orientation. The variations are particularly pronounced for the N_2 valence or…
When molecules interact with intense light sources of femtosecond or shorter duration the rotational degrees of freedom are frozen during the response to the strong nonperturbative interaction. We show how the frozen degrees of freedom affect the measurable signals in high-harmonic generation and above threshold ionization. High-harmonic generation exhibits optical coherence in the signal from different orientations of the molecule. For ionization, the contributions from different orientations are added incoherently. The effects are demonstrated for realistic alignment and orientation schemes.
The transfer of weakly bound KRb molecules from levels just below the dissociation threshold into the vibrational ground state with shaped laser pulses is studied. Optimal control theory is employed to calculate the pulses. The complexity of modelling the molecular structure is successively increased in order to study the effects of the long-range behavior of the excited state potential, resonant spin-orbit coupling and singlet-triplet mixing.
We investigate how short and long electron trajectory contributions to high harmonic emission and their interferences give access to intra-molecular dynamics. In the case of unaligned molecules, we show experimental evidences that the long trajectory signature is more dependent upon the molecule than the short one, providing a high sensitivity to cation nuclear dynamics within 100's of as to few fs. Using theoretical approaches based on Strong Field Approximation and Time Dependent Schrodinger Equation, we examine how quantum path interferences encode electronic motion whilst molecules are ali…
The generation of high harmonics (HHG) in atomic systems by the highly non-linear response to an intense laser field is a prominent pathway to the synthesis of ever shorter laser pulses at increasingly higher photon energies. Extensions of this process to molecules add to the complexity but also offers novel opportunities as multi-center effects and the coupling to nuclear degrees of freedom can influence HHG. In this work we theoretically explore the impact of coherent vibronic excitations of diatomic molecules on the HHG spectrum within the framework of time-dependent density functional theo…
We show that high-order harmonics generated from molecules by intense laser pulses can be expressed as the product of a returning electron wave packet and the photo-recombination cross section (PRCS) where the electron wave packet can be obtained from simple strong-field approximation (SFA) or from a companion atomic target. Using these wave packets but replacing the PRCS obtained from SFA or from the atomic target by the accurate PRCS from molecules, the resulting HHG spectra are shown to agree well with the benchmark results from direct numerical solution of the time-dependent Schrödinger eq…
The coherent radiation spectrum of two-level polar molecules with UV transition is studied at the multiphoton resonant excitation by a moderately strong laser field. The spectrum corresponding to harmonic generation and low-frequency radiation is investigated both analytically and numerically. Specifically, a mechanism for generation of intense smoothly tunable terahertz radiation by two-level molecular configurations (with dynamic Stark shifts) possessing permanent dipole moments, is considered.
The relation between high-harmonic spectra and the geometry of the molecular orbitals in position and momentum space is investigated. In particular we choose two isoelectronic pairs of homonuclear and heteronuclear molecules, such that the highest occupied molecular orbital of the former exhibit at least one nodal plane. The imprint of such planes is a strong suppression in the harmonic spectra, for particular alignment angles. We are able to identify two distinct types of nodal planes. If the nodal planes are determined by the atomic wavefunctions only, the angle for which the yield is suppre…
We present a generic approach for treating the effect of nuclear motion in the high-order harmonic generation from polyatomic molecules. Our procedure relies on a separation of nuclear and electron dynamics where we account for the electronic part using the Lewenstein model and nuclear motion enters as a nuclear correlation function. We express the nuclear correlation function in terms of Franck-Condon factors which allows us to decompose nuclear motion into modes and identify the modes that are dominant in the high-order harmonic generation process. We show results for the isotopes CH$_4$ and…
Laser cooling of molecules employing broadband optical pumping involves a timescale separation between laser excitation and spontaneous emission. Here, we optimize the optical pumping step using shaped laser pulses. We derive two optimization functionals to drive population into those excited state levels that have the largest spontaneous emission rates to the target state. We show that, when using optimal control, laser cooling of molecules works even if the Franck-Condon map governing the transitions is preferential to heating rather than cooling. Our optimization functional is also applicab…
Electron quantum path interferences in strongly laser-driven aligned molecules and their dependence on the molecular alignment is an essential open problem in strong-field molecular physics. Here, we demonstrate an approach which provides direct access to the observation of these interference processes. The approach is based on the combination of the time-gated-ion-microscopy technique with a pump-probe arrangement used to align the molecules and generate high-order harmonics. By spatially resolving the interference pattern produced by the spatiotemporal overlap of the harmonics emitted by the…
We investigate the properties of two interacting ultracold polar molecules described as distinguishable quantum rigid rotors, trapped in a one-dimensional harmonic potential. The molecules interact via a multichannel two-body contact potential, incorporating the short-range anisotropy of intermolecular interactions including dipole-dipole interaction. The impact of external electric and magnetic fields resulting in Stark and Zeeman shifts of molecular rovibrational states is also investigated. Energy spectra and eigenstates are calculated by means of the exact diagonalization. The importance a…
We study the generation of terahertz radiation from atoms and molecules driven by an ultrashort fundamental laser and its second harmonic field by solving time-dependent Schrödinger equation (TDSE). The comparisons between one-, two-, and three- dimensional TDSE numerical simulations show that initial ionized wave-packet and its subsequent acceleration in the laser field and rescattering with long-range Coulomb potential play key roles. We also present the dependence of the optimum phase delay and yield of terahertz radiation on the laser intensity, wavelength, duration, and the ratio of two-c…
We investigate the orientation dependence of molecular high-order harmonic generation (HHG) both numerically and analytically. We show that the molecular recollision electronic wave packets (REWPs) in the HHG are closely related to the ionization potential as well as the particular orbital from which it ionized. As a result, the spectral amplitude of the molecular REWP can be significantly different from its reference atom (i.e., with the same ionization potential as the molecule under study) in some energy regions due to the interference between the atomic cores of the molecules. This finding…
We perform a detailed analysis of high-order harmonic generation in diatomic molecules within the strong-field approximation, with emphasis on quantum-interference effects. Specifically, we investigate how the different types of electron orbits, involving one or two centers, affect the interference patterns in the spectra. We also briefly address the influence of the choice of gauge, and of the initial and final electronic bound states on such patterns. For the length-gauge SFA and undressed bound states, there exist additional terms, which can be interpreted as potential energy shifts. If, on…
By analyzing ``exact'' theoretical results from solving the time-dependent Schrödinger equation of atoms in few-cycle laser pulses, we established the general conclusion that differential elastic scattering and photo-recombination cross sections of the target ion with {\em free} electrons can be extracted accurately from laser-generated high-energy electron momentum spectra and high-order harmonic spectra, respectively. Since both electron scattering and photoionization (the inverse of photo-recombination) are the conventional means for interrogating the structure of atoms and molecules, this …
A mixed quantum-classical approach is introduced which allows the dynamical response of molecules driven far from equilibrium to be modeled. This method is applied to the interaction of molecules with intense, short-duration laser pulses. The electronic response of the molecule is described using time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) and the resulting Kohn-Sham equations are solved numerically using finite difference techniques in conjunction with local and global adaptations of an underlying grid in curvilinear coordinates. Using this approach, simulations can be carried out for a …
High harmonic generation (HHG) is a manifestation of the strongly nonlinear response of matter to intense laser fields and has, as the basis for coherent XUV sources a variety of applications. Recently, HHG from atoms in a phase and polarization structured laser was demonstrated and interpreted based on the transverse electric field component of the driving pulse. Here we point out that as dictated by Maxwell equations, such fields have a longitudinal component which in general has a fundamental influence on the charge dynamics. For instance, its interplay with the transversal field component …
High-order harmonic generation (HHG) from molecular ion HeH$^{2+}$ in two initial states of $1sσ$ (ground state) and $2pσ$ (first excited state) is investigated theoretically, in homogeneous and plasmonic-enhanced laser fields. The electron ionization and the enhancement of HHG yield in ground and first excited states, as the initial states, is studied and a strong orientation effect for ionization of electron in $2pσ$ state is discovered, that it can be used to reach a longer lifetime for the electron in the first excited state, which is responsible for the enhancement in HHG yield, during th…
