Transient enhancement of high-order harmonic generation in expanding molecules

Abstract

High-order harmonic generation (HHG) is limited by the probability of recombination of the returning electron with the parent ion. We show here that the internuclear distance of simplest diatomic molecules, determining differently delocalized initial electronic states, can be used to enhance the HHG conversion efficiency exceeding the atomic one. We propose an experiment based on a double-pulse pump-drive scheme where a strong transient enhancement of the HHG yield is predicted.