Effect of pump-1 laser on Autler–Townes splitting in photoelectron spectrum of K₂ molecule

We theoretically investigate the Autler-Townes (AT) splitting in the photoelectron spectrum of four-level ladder K₂ molecule driven by a pump 1-pump 2-probe pulse via employing the time-dependent wave packet approach. The effects of the pump-1 laser intensity and wavelength on AT splitting are studied for the first time. The magnitude of AT splitting increases with increasing the pump-1 laser intensity. The triple splitting with asymmetric profile occurs due to the nonresonant excitation. The triple structure is transformed into a double structure (near-resonant region), and then becomes a peak (far-off resonant region) progressively as the pump-1 laser is detuned from the resonance wavelength, which can be explained in terms of the asymmetric excitation/population of dressed states. The splitting between adjacent peaks and the splitting between the two sideband peaks in the triplet do not change with the pump-1 pulse wavelength. The three peaks shift toward lower energy with the same shift 1/4^*Δ₁ as the pump-1 wavelength changes in near-resonant region. The asymptotic behaviors of AT splitting with the pump-1 laser intensity are interesting in the threshold points of the near-resonant region and the far-off resonant region.