The intense applied field modifies internal structure and alters decay dynamics significantly. An atom, for example, places in a strong field will nor only lose one or more electrons, it can lose two electrons simultaneously.
Molecules also lose electrons in strong fields.
However, the multiple charge centers at extended lengths characteristic of a molecular system leads to additional degrees of freedom for decay via energetic dissociation of multiple ionized nuclei. Although the nuclei are considerably more massive that the electrons, dissociation and ionization are entangled, which leads to a nonintuitive evolution as well. These nonintuitive but fundamental decay channels in atoms and molecules are the thrust of Hill's research. Hill's most recent effort exploits laser cooling and trapping techniques to create ultracold atomic beams with small cross sectional diameters. He will employ these to study atomic recoil following strong-field ionization.