Strong-field approximation for high-order above-threshold ionization of randomly oriented diatomic molecules

Abstract

High-order above-threshold ionization of diatomic molecules by a strong linearly polarized field is considered using the molecular strong-field approximation. Tunneling–rescattering as the mechanism of this ionization gives rise to a novel two-source double-slit interference, which involves the four geometrical paths that are available to an electron, which can be ionized from and rescattered off either of the two centers of the diatomic molecule. For a comparison of this theory with experiments in the absence of molecular alignment, it is necessary to average the theoretical results over the molecular orientation. This paper presents technical details of this averaging procedure. It is shown that, depending on the molecular symmetry, the destructive two-source double-slit interference minima can survive the orientation averaging and can be observed in the angle-resolved electron spectra. This is illustrated on the examples of N 2 and O 2 molecules. It is also shown that two- and three-dimensional versions of orientation averaging lead to qualitatively similar results.