H/HE MOLECULES IN STRONG ELECTRIC-FIELDS

Floating spherical Gaussian orbitals are used within a split‐shell description to calculate the properties of H, He, He+, H2, H+2, HeH+, and H+3 in a strong uniform electric field. Accurate polarizabilities including their field strength dependence are obtained with two basis functions at most. Critical field strengths for ionization and deprotonation are determined for different orientations of molecules. Electron tunneling is described within the time dependent approach using floating Gaussian orbitals also. Copyright © 1990 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.