A detailed description of the Monte Carlo wave packet technique applied to dissociative multiple ionization of diatomic molecules in short intense laser pulses is presented. The Monte Carlo wave packet technique relies on the Born-Oppenheimer separation of electronic and nuclear dynamics and provides a consistent theoretical framework for treating simultaneously both ionization and dissociation. By simulating the detection of continuum electrons and collapsing the system onto either the neutral, singly ionized or doubly ionized states in every time step the nuclear dynamics can be solved separately for each molecular charge state. Our model circumvents the solution of a multiparticle Schrödinger equation and makes it possible to extract the kinetic energy release spectrum via the Coulomb explosion channel as well as the physical origin of the different structures in the spectrum. The computational effort is restricted and the model is applicable to any molecular system where electronic Born-Oppenheimer curves, dipole moment functions, and ionization rates as a function of nuclear coordinates can be determined.

• Received 17 February 2010

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.81.053409