Nonsequential double ionization of molecular fragments

High-precision ion yields are taken with 30-fs ultrashort laser pulses in various species of doubly ionized diatomic molecules, N₂ and O₂, including metastable, charge symmetric, and asymmetric dissociating channels. The experimental results indicate that the detailed electronic structure is a critical factor influencing strong field nonsequential ionization. The study of ellipticity effects of nonseqential ionization is also extended, for the first time to our knowledge, to the molecular system.