High-intensity molecular harmonic generation without ionization

We theoretically investigate the high-order harmonic generation from H₂⁺ in an infrared laser field. Our numerical simulations show that there exists a highly efficient plateau structure in the molecular harmonic spectrum. Under the action of the infrared laser pulse, the bound electronic wave packet in a potential well has enough time to tunnel through the effective potential barrier, which is formed by the molecular potential and the infrared laser field, and then recombine with the neighboring nucleus emitting a harmonic photon. During the entire dynamic process, because the wave packet is mainly located in the effective potential, the diffusion effect is of no significance, and thus a highly efficient harmonic plateau can be achieved. Specifically, the cut-off frequency of the plateau is linearly scaled with the peak amplitude of the infrared laser electric field, which may open another route to examine the internuclear distance of the molecule. Furthermore, one may detect the molecular bond lengths using the harmonic plateau.