Following dynamic nuclear wave packets in N2,O2, and CO with few-cycle infrared pulses

  • S. De*
  • , M. Magrakvelidze
  • , I. A. Bocharova
  • , D. Ray
  • , W. Cao
  • , I. Znakovskaya
  • , H. Li
  • , Z. Wang
  • , G. Laurent
  • , U. Thumm
  • , M. F. Kling
  • , I. V. Litvinyuk
  • , I. Ben-Itzhak
  • , C. L. Cocke
  • *Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

66 Scopus citations

Abstract

We study the evolution of nuclear wave packets launched in molecular nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon monoxide by intense 8-fs infrared pulses. We use velocity map imaging to measure the momentum of the ion fragments when these wave packets are interrogated by a second such pulse after a variable time delay. Both quasibound and dissociative wave packets are observed. For the former, measurements of bound-state oscillations are used to identify the participating states and, in some cases, extract properties of the relevant potential-energy surfaces. Vibrational structure is resolved in both energy and oscillation frequencies for the cations of oxygen and carbon monoxide, displaying the same quantum wave-packet motion in both energy and time domains. In addition, vibrational structure is seen in the dication of carbon monoxide in a situation where the energy resolution by itself is inadequate to resolve the structure.

Original languageEnglish
Article number043410
JournalPhysical Review A - Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics
Volume84
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - 10 Oct 2011
Externally publishedYes

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