Ratiometric comparison of intense field ionization of atoms and diatomic molecules - art. no. 153001

Intense-laser ionization rates for rare gas atoms and diatomic molecules ha ve been precisely compared by making simultaneous measurements of ionizatio n yield vs laser intensity for mixed atomic and molecular targets. At a giv en laser intensity, the N-2 and F-2 ionization yields are slightly greater than that of Ar. Conversely, comparison Of O-2 and S-2 with Xe indicates si gnificant ionization suppression in these molecules. Recent molecular ioniz ation models that successfully describe ionization suppression in O-2 and i ts absence in N-2 fail to explain our observations in F-2 and S-2.