title: Coulomb asymmetry in strong field multielectron ionization of diatomic molecules.
abstract: We measure the angular distribution of an electron emitted by a strong elliptically polarized two-color laser field from exploding doubly charged molecular nitrogen. This angular distribution is vastly different for emission of the electron from the up-field core of the molecule as compared to that from the down-field core. The emission from the down-field core leads to a slight rotation with respect to the internuclear axis in the direction expected by the Coulomb effect of the remaining ion, while, for the emission from the up-field core, this direction is inversed. Our semiclassical simulations suggest that this unexpected angular distribution is caused by an initial longitudinal momentum of the electron freed by over-the-barrier ionization above the inner barrier in the molecule. The initial kinetic energy is in the range of the potential energy of the Stark-shifted orbital above the barrier.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Kernphysik, Goethe Universität, Max-von-Laue-Strasse 1, D-60438 Frankfurt, Germany.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Meckel
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Voss
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sann
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kunitski
authors.forename: L Ph H
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Schmidt
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Czasch
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Jahnke
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Dörner