IONIZATION RATES OF H-2(+) IN AN INTENSE LASER FIELD BY NUMERICAL-INTEGRATION OF THE TIME-DEPENDENT SCHRODINGER-EQUATION

A numerical method of integration of the time-dependent Schrodinger equation is presented for the hydrogen atom and for the H-2+ molecule. Cylindrical coordinates are used and the wave function is expressed as a Bessel-Fourier series. This expansion allows one to eliminate singularities present in the Hamiltonian and to use a unitary split operator to evaluate numerically multiphoton transitions. Laser-induced ionization rates for H-2+ are calculated and compared with rates for the hydrogen atom. A strong dependence of the H-2+ ionization rates on the initial vibrational excitation is found.