Multiphoton ionization of molecules under the conditions of strong field-induced perturbation of Rydberg states

Multiphonon ionization of the H₂ molecule under the action of a weak (probe) field, which provides the initial population of the low-lying (working) level, and intense monochromatic linearly polarized radiation is studied. The multiphoton ionization process occurs under the conditions of strong field perturbation of two intermediate Rydberg series, np0(¹Σ _u ⁺ and np2(¹Π_u), of the optical R(0)branch which have different ionization potentials. The series are occupied simultaneously as a result of single-photon absorption by an excited H ₂ ^* molecule in the working state 4s σH′¹Σ _g ⁺ (v=0). As a result of the irregularity in the arrangement of the intermediate levels from a large group of states that are combined in the multiphoton ionization process a sharp and irregular change occurs in the dependence of the shifts and widths Γ_n of the levels on the intensity f of the strong field in a transition from one level to another. It is shown that for field intensities f such that the level widths remain much less than the splitting between the levels (Γ_n≪/n ³) the stabilizing effect (i.e., the field-induced narrowing of the levels as f→∞) in the form Γ_n ∝ 1/f ² (as happens in atoms with a structureless core) is not observed in molecular systems. Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 115, 1987–2000 (June 1999)