Multielectron effects and nonadiabatic electronic dynamics in above threshold ionization and high-harmonic generation

Abstract

We explore the effects of multiple participating final ion states during strong field ionization (SFI) and high-harmonic generation (HHG) using a two-electron two-center reduced-dimensionality model. In particular, we propose to use above threshold ionization (ATI) photoelectron spectra to identify ionic states that are active in SFI, and demonstrate the feasibility of our proposal to track multiple ionic states in a dissociation scenario. In addition to offering clear signatures of multiple participating ionic states, our method is shown to be sensitive to sub-cycle nonadiabatic laser-driven couplings between the ionic states. Finally, we calculate the high-harmonic emission and show how the multiple ionic states identified in the ATI spectra can manifest themselves in the high-harmonic spectra.