Time Delay in Molecular Photoionization

TL;DR

This paper explores the complex, spatially dependent time delays in molecular photoionization, using scattering theory and calculations on diatomic molecules to understand and visualize these effects for potential experimental observation.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of molecular photoionization time delays, highlighting their anisotropic nature and presenting energy-angle resolved maps for nitrogen and carbon monoxide.

Findings

Time delays vary strongly with molecular orientation.

Molecular delays differ significantly from atomic cases.

Energy and angle-resolved maps reveal detailed delay structures.

Abstract

Time-delays in the photoionization of molecules are investigated. As compared to atomic ionization, the time-delays expected from molecular ionization present a much richer phenomenon, with a strong spatial dependence due to the anisotropic nature of the molecular scattering potential. We investigate this from a scattering theory perspective, and make use of molecular photoionization calculations to examine this effect in representative homonuclear and hetronuclear diatomic molecules, nitrogen and carbon monoxide. We present energy and angle-resolved maps of the Wigner delay time for single-photon valence ionization, and discuss the possibilities for experimental measurements.