We apply the improved molecular strong-field approximation to investigate high-order above-threshold ionization (HATI) of heteronuclear diatomic molecules by an orthogonally polarized two-color (OTC) laser field. The OTC field consists of two linearly polarized components with frequencies $r\omega$ and $s\omega$, where $r$ and $s$ are integers, and $\omega$ is the fundamental frequency. The molecule is aligned in the OTC laser field polarization plane. We show that the photoelectron momentum distribution obeys one reflection symmetry which is valid for arbitrary values of the relative phase between the OTC field components in the case when $r+s$ is odd. For molecules oriented along the polarization axis $z_L$ of the $r\omega$ component (${\theta }_L=0^{\circ }$) and $r$ even and $s$ odd, the HATI spectrum exhibits the reflection symmetry with respect to the $z_L$ axis. When the molecular orientation is along the $x_L$ axis, which is perpendicular to the polarization axis of the $r\omega$ component (${\theta }_L={90}^{\circ }$), the spectrum exhibits the reflection symmetry with respect to the $x_L$ axis for $r$ odd and $s$ even. In addition, we analyze the asymmetry in the photoelectron spectra of heteronuclear molecules by comparing them with the photoelectron spectra obtained ionizing a homonuclear diatomic molecule. We also explore the influence of the shift of the relative phase by ${180}^{\circ }$ on the HATI spectra. We explain some characteristics of the obtained HATI spectra using a generalization of the classical two-dimensional simple man's model which includes ionization probabilities calculated using the imaginary-time method. Finally, we analyze the interference minima for different heteronuclear diatomic molecules and for particular values of the emission angle, laser-field parameters, and internuclear distance. These minima are well fitted with the curve obtained using the derived condition for the two-center destructive interference minima.

• Received 18 January 2021
• Revised 19 March 2021
• Accepted 20 April 2021

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.103.053101