Abstract:
We investigate how the simplest molecular ion, Dihydrogen (H2
+), reacts when exposed to an intense
ultrashort laser pulse. We use a computer code written in parallel FORTRAN, which is run on a
Drake-owned cluster. The program uses a finite-element method to numerically solve the Schrödinger
equation for the ion’s electron. We determine the ground-state energy via imaginary time propagation.
After generating the initial wave function of the electron, we consider the effect of a strong laser
pulse striking the system. Specifically, we investigate the survival probability of the initial state as a
function of the laser intensity and the electric polarization vector. We will show snapshots of the
probability density for finding the electron in space at various times in the pulse.
