Inelastic rescattering processes in molecules measured with few-cycle laser pulses

Abstract

We study electron recollision processes induced in D2 by the nonlinear interaction with 800 nm few-cycle laser pulses. We show that sequential double ionization is suppressed at intensities below 2 × 10^14 W cm−2 , and the inelastic rescattering processes (electronic excitation and double ionization) become dominant and can be investigated as a function of intensity and ellipticity. At 1 × 10^14 W cm−2 , the D+ kinetic energy spectrum arises from recollision-induced electronic excitation (D2 + →D^+ +D) and is explained by the contributions of two dissociative excited electronic states of D2 + (Sigma_u + and Pi_u ).