Revealing Molecular Strong Field Autoionization Dynamics

Phys Rev Lett. 2021 Mar 12;126(10):103202. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.126.103202.

Abstract

The novel strong field autoionization (SFAI) dynamics is identified and investigated by channel-resolved angular streaking measurements of two electrons and two ions for the double-ionized CO. Comparing with the laser-assisted autoionization calculations, we demonstrate the electrons from SFAI are generated from the field-induced decay of the autoionizing state with a following acceleration in the laser fields. The energy-dependent photoelectron angular distributions further reveal that the subcycle ac-Stark effect modulates the lifetime of the autoionizing state and controls the emission of SFAI electrons in molecular frame. Our results pave the way to control the emission of resonant high-harmonic generation and trace the electron-electron correlation and electron-nuclear coupling by strong laser fields. The lifetime modulation of quantum systems in the strong laser field has great potential for quantum manipulation of chemical reactions and beyond.