Laser-polarization-dependent photoelectron angular distributions from polar molecules

TL;DR

This study systematically explores how the polarization of lasers influences photoelectron angular distributions in polar molecules, revealing distinct patterns and control mechanisms for electron motion.

Contribution

It introduces a method to manipulate photoelectron distributions by varying laser polarization, advancing control in laser-molecule interaction studies.

Findings

Distinct PAD styles for different polarizations

Suppression and concentration of electron emission along specific axes

Rotation of electron distribution with increasing ellipticity

Abstract

Photoelectron angular distributions (PADs) of oriented polar molecules in response to different polarized lasers are systematically investigated. It is found that the PADs of polar CO molecules show three distinct styles excited by linearly, elliptically and circularly polarized lasers respectively. In the case of elliptical polarization, a deep suppression is observed along the major axis and the distribution concentrates approximately along the minor axis. Additionally, it is also found that the concentrated distributions rotate clockwise as the ellipticity increases. Our investigation presents a method to manipulate the motion and angular distribution of photoelectrons by varying the polarization of the exciting pulses, and also implies the possibility to control the processes in laser-molecule interactions in future work.