We investigate the ionization dynamics of one-electron model diatomic molecules with different orbital symmetries ($1{\sigma }_g$ and $1{\sigma }_u$) in a strong laser field via the full three-dimensional time-dependent Schrödinger equation. It is shown that the ionization probabilities of the molecules with different initial states ($1{\sigma }_g$ and $1{\sigma }_u$) oscillate out of phase vs internuclear distance, and the photoelectron spectra of the aforementioned two molecules also show out-of-phase oscillation structures. The above intriguing features are well reproduced by the simulations of the length-gauge strong-field approximation, which can be ascribed to the distinct interferences of electronic wave packets released from different atomic centers.

• Received 30 July 2019
• Revised 26 September 2019

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.100.053414