Effect of laser polarization direction on high order harmonic generation of oxygen molecule——A simulation via TDDFT

Abstract

The high order harmonic generation (HHG) of O2 radiated by ultra-strong femto-second pulsed laser beam is simulated by the time dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) method with the general gradient approximation (GGA) of the exchange-correlation energy. The effect of different laser polarization directions on HHG is discussed. The results indicate that the HHG spectrum of O2 has the similar characteristic as the typical atom HHG spectrum. The HHG yields peaks when the molecules are aligned at about 45° from the polarization axis. Good agreements are found with the experiment.