Laser pulse ionization of fixed-in-space H2O

Abstract

We present a detailed study of the ionization probability of H2O induced by a short intense laser pulse. Within the strong-field approximation, we present total and differential ionization probabilities of the water molecule fixed in space. It is shown that the second highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO-1) dominates the single-electron emission process when the laser is polarized along the symmetry axis of the H2O molecule, and that the electron emission is in general favoured in the direction along the laser polarization direction.