Eur. Phys. J. D 59, 337-348 (2010)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2010-00181-9

Ionization of the water by intense ultrashort half-cycle electric pulses

¹ Faculty of Physics, Babeş-Bolyai University, str. Kogălniceanu nr. 1, 400084 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
² Institute of Nuclear Research of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (ATOMKI), P.O. Box 51, 4001 Debrecen, Hungary

Corresponding author: ^a sborbely@phys.ubbcluj.ro

Received: 7 December 2009
Revised: 10 March 2010
Published online: 2 July 2010

Abstract

The ionization of the water molecule by intense ultrashort half-cycle electric pulses is studied theoretically. The formation of the electron wave packets in the continuum was investigated by calculating ionization probability densities using classical and quantum mechanical models. Single active electron and frozen core calculations were performed within the hydrogenic approximation. Electrons from the highest occupied molecular orbital were considered. We found good agreement between the classical and quantum mechanical calculation at high intensities, where the over-the-barrier ionization mechanism is dominant.