In this work, we experimentally study the angle-dependent single ionization of carbon dioxide ($\mathrm{C}{\mathrm{O}}_2$) by linearly and circularly polarized pulses. The angle dependence of the ionization probability by linearly polarized pulses extracted from time-domain measurements on an impulsively excited rotational wave packet is compared with data obtained from a direct angle-scan measurement. The results from the measurement with linear and circular polarization are consistent with the adiabatic ionization approximation. We extend the time-domain method to extract the dependence of the asymptotic momentum distribution of fragment ions on the orientation of the molecular axis, and apply it to investigate dissociative double ionization of $\mathrm{C}{\mathrm{O}}_2$. We show that such measurements can directly test the validity of the axial recoil approximation.

• Received 12 May 2020
• Accepted 17 September 2020

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.102.043119