Experimental and theoretical study on nonsequential double ionization of carbon disulfide in strong near-IR laser fields

Nonsequential double ionization (NSDI) of carbon disulfide CS2 in strong 800-nm laser fields is studied experimentally and theoretically. A knee structure is observed in the intensity-dependent double ionization (DI) yield in linearly polarized laser fields, which exhibits a strong dependence on the laser ellipticity. The electron momentum distributions and energy trajectories after DI in both linearly and circularly polarized laser fields are investigated by employing the two-dimensional classical ensemble method. The results clearly show the evidence of NSDI in the strong-field DI of CS2 molecules. It is demonstrated that, similar to that of atoms, NSDI of CS2 molecules is produced via laser-driven electron recollision with the ion core and presents electron-electron correlations in the process. Analysis indicates that both mechanisms in atomic strong-field NSDI, i.e., recollision impact ionization and recollision excitation with subsequent ionization, may also be contributed to NSDI of CS2 in strong laser fields. Further studies are no doubt necessary for a full understanding of the underlying physical mechanism of molecular strong-field NSDI, due to the multicenter character of the molecular structure and the complex molecular excited states that could be involved in the ionization.