Three-dimensional simulation of the femto-second pulsed laser interacting with a nitrogen molecule Original Research Article

Interaction of femto-second pulsed laser with a nitrogen molecule at various angles is investigated numerically in the present study. We propose a three-dimensional time-dependent Schrödinger equation (TDSE) solver using finite volume method (FVM) with single-active-electron (SAE) assumption. We construct the model potential by combining the soft-Coulomb potential and Yukawa potential and fitting both the first ionization energy and orbital type of highest-occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) of a N2 molecule. The ratio of simulated maximum (image) to minimum (image) ionization yield is 1.9 and it agrees more favorably with the converted experimental data (2.3–3.3) than the MO-ADK model does (10.0). This shows that the proposed model potential in the 3D TDSE solver can faithfully predict the ionization of a nitrogen molecule under strong pulsed laser incidence and is a very useful tool for future application in similar analysis of more complicated molecules.