We discuss the influence of periodic orbits on the dissociation of a model diatomic molecule driven by a strong bichromatic laser fields. Through the stability of periodic orbits we analyze the dissociation probability when parameters like the two am
plitudes and the phase lag between the laser fields, are varied. We find that qualitative features of dissociation can be reproduced by considering a small set of short periodic orbits. The good agreement with direct simulations demonstrates the importance of bifurcations of short periodic orbits in the dissociation dynamics of diatomic molecules.
We investigate the multiphoton ionization of hydrogen driven by a strong bichromatic microwave field. In a regime where classical and quantum simulations agree, periodic orbit analysis captures the mechanism: Through the linear stability of periodic
orbits we match qualitatively the variation of experimental ionization rates with control parameters such as the amplitudes of the two modes of the field or their relative phases. Moreover, we discuss an empirical formula which reproduces quantum simulations to a high degree of accuracy. This quantitative agreement shows the mechanism by which short periodic orbits organize the dynamics in multiphoton ionization. We also analyze the effect of longer pulse durations. Finally we compare our results with those based on the peak amplitude rule. Both qualitative and quantitative analyses are implemented for different mode locked fields. In parameter space, the localization of the period doubling and halving allows one to predict the set of parameters (amplitudes and phase lag) where ionization occurs.
