Eur. Phys. J. D 26, 99-104 (2003)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2003-00201-y

Atomic and molecular ions in intense ultra-fast laser fields

¹ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK
² Department of Physics, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN, UK

Corresponding author: ^a w.bryan@ucl.ac.uk

Received: 6 January 2003
Published online: 15 July 2003

Abstract

The interaction of a 60 fs 790 nm laser pulse with beams of Ar⁺, C⁺, H, HD⁺ and D are discussed. Intensities up to 10¹⁶ Wcm^-2 are employed. An experimental z-scanning technique is used to resolve the intensity dependent processes in the confocal volume. ultiphoton ionization and excitation to highly excited states (e.g., Rydberg states)