Photodetachment of a model molecular system by an elliptically polarized field

The differential cross section for one-photon molecular detachment by an elliptically polarized field is analyzed for a one-electron molecular model comprised of an electron in the field of two (generally nonequivalent) attractive zero-range potentials (ZRPs) separated by the distance R. A phenomenological parametrization of the photodetachment cross section for a fixed-in-space molecular system in terms of two scalar dynamical parameters is presented and circular dichroism effects are discussed. Analytic results for the dynamical molecular parameters within the ZRP molecular model are used to analyze interference phenomena (including two-center interference) and dichroic effects in the detached electron angular distributions and their dependence on the interatomic distance R and on the orientation of the molecular axis with respect to the polarization plane. Numerical ZRP results for angular distributions are presented for both symmetric and asymmetric molecules in an elliptically polarized field