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Signatures of molecular orbital structure in lateral electron momentum distributions from strong-field ionization
Ingo Petersen1, Jost Henkel1, Manfred Lein1
1Institut für Theoretische Physik and Centre for Quantum Engineering and Space-Time Research (QUEST), Leibniz Universität Hannover, Appelstraße 2, 30167 Hannover, Germany.
Abstract:
Strong-field ionization of aligned diatomic and polyatomic molecules such as O2, N2, C2H4, and others in circularly polarized laser fields is investigated theoretically. By calculating the emission-angle-resolved lateral width of the momentum distribution perpendicular to the polarization plane, we show that nodal planes in molecular orbitals are directly imprinted on the angular dependence of the width. We demonstrate that orbital symmetries can be distinguished with the information obtained by observing the lateral width in addition to the angular distributions.
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