Generation of circularly polarized attosecond pulses by intense ultrashort laser pulses from extended asymmetric molecular ions

We present a method for generation of single circularly polarized attosecond pulses in extended asymmetric HHe2+ molecular ions. By employing an intense ultrashort circularly polarized laser pulse with intensity 4.0x1014 W/cm2, wavelength 400 nm, and duration 10 optical cycles, molecular high-order-harmonic generation (MHOHG) spectra with multiple plateaus exhibit characters of circular polarization. Using a classical laser-induced collision model, double collisions of continuum electrons first with neighboring ions and then second with parent ions are presented at a particular internuclear distance and confirmed from numerical solutions of a time-dependent Schroedinger equation. We analyze the MHOHG spectra with a Gabor time window and find that, due to the asymmetry of HHe2+, a single collision trajectory of continuum electrons with ions can produce circularly polarized harmonics, leading to single circularly polarized attosecond pulses for specific internuclear distances.