Anti-Stokes-enhanced tunnelling ionization of polar molecules

We generalize the correct account for molecule vibrational motion in tunnelling ionization, proposed earlier (Kornev and Zon 2012 Phys. Rev. A 86 043401), to the case of polar molecules. We consider the tunnel effect in both dc and ac fields, taking into account perturbation of vibrational motion by an external field. We develop a method for accounting for dipole moment on the base of the electronic wave function expansion over dipole-spherical functions instead of ordinary spherical functions. The change of polar molecule ionization probability compared to non-polar molecule ionization is mainly due to constant change in the asymptotic form of the valence electron wave function, both in the dc and ac fields. We present numerical results for HF and HCl molecules of various isotopic proportions for specific orientations of the molecule axis relative to the electric field strength. The maximum rate of the tunnel effect for these molecules is achieved if the internuclear axis is oriented perpendicularly to the electric field. (paper)