Ionization dynamics of a model molecular ion

We study the ionization dynamics of a model one-dimensional molecular ion as a function of the internuclear distance R, for different values of the laser intensity. The electron–nucleus potential is assumed to be a Poschl–Teller potential, whose parameters are chosen to have only two bare bound molecular states in the range of R considered. We describe three different theoretical approaches to study the dynamics of the system: an exact numerical, a semiperturbative and a phenomenological approach. All these approaches indicate the presence of a sharp ionization peak for a critical value of the internuclear distance, for which the energy difference between the two bound levels coincides with the laser photon energy. The results obtained are explained and a new model of molecular ionization in intense laser field is presented.