Full-dimensional simulation of the laser-induced alignment dynamics of H₂He⁺

ABSTRACT

A theoretical approach for simulating the laser-induced alignment dynamics of non-rigid polyatomic molecules is introduced, in which the time-dependent Schrödinger equation (TDSE) is solved by expanding the laser-induced wavepacket with the field-free rovibrational eigenstates of the system. It is shown that not only the exact solution of the TDSE but also its approximated solution can be obtained, depending on the choices of the method for determining the field-free eigenstates. Laser-induced alignment of weakly bound H₂He⁺ is investigated by adopting the present approach with high-accuracy full-dimensional variational calculations of the nuclear dynamics.

KEYWORDS:

• H₂He⁺
• molecular alignment
• intense laser physics
• rovibrational wavepacket
• variational nuclear motion computation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The work described received support from the Grant-in-Aid (Tokubetsu Kenkyuin Shorei-hi) scientific research fund of Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) (project number 26-04333); the JSPS KAKENHI [grant number 15H05696].