P109
Disentangling Molecular Alignment and Enhanced Ionization in Intense Laser Fields
Ch. Ellert,
P. B. Corkum*
CEA Saclay, France
(*)NRC Ottawa, Canada
Using circular and linear laser polarization of various orientations for strong field dissociative ionization we show that, although all molecular fragments appear aligned with the laser electric field, the iodine molecules are fixed by their moment of inertia. What seems to be alignment of the fragments is created by an enhancement of the ionization rate, which is strongly dependent on the angle between the molecular axis and the laser electric field vector. By the newly introduced method we can measure the degree of alignment for I_2, Br_2, Cl_2, and O_2 and independently estimate the enhancement of the ionization rate for I_2.
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