Electronic dynamics of charge resonance enhanced ionization probed by laser-induced alignment in C₂H₂

Although charge resonance enhanced ionization (CREI) be an ubiquitous effect in molecules in strong laser fields, the associated electron emission remains difficult to deal with. The main reason relies on the fact that CREI is part of an overall multielectron ionization, where the initial steps of single and dissociative ionization of neutral species dominate the electron spectrum. Using the rescattered electrons, we show that it is possible to address the electron signal from CREI without any contribution from other electron signals. The electrons from CREI are preferentially emitted when the molecular axis is parallel to the laser electric field as expected from its electronic dynamics. Acetylene is chosen for demonstration purpose because single ionization, which is not related to CREI, is more pronounced when the C₂H₂ molecular axis is perpendicular to the laser electric field. (letter)