| Abstract | We show how a carefully chosen combination of sufficiently intense linearly and circularly polarized laser fields can completely suppress Coulomb explosion of heteronuclear diatomic molecules. To illustrate the effect, we show how a molecule HD stripped of both of its electrons can form a metastable bound complex HD++ during a pulse. We demonstrate that, depending on the field intensities, one can control the angular distributions and kinetic energy releases in the Coulomb explosion of a diatomic molecule following multielectron ionization, switching from the familiar weak-field pattern to the predominant explosion in a desired direction or its complete suppression during the laser pulse. |
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