Probing multiphoton light-induced molecular potentials
Abstract
The strong coupling between intense laser fields and valence electrons in molecules causes a distortion of the potential energy hypersurfaces which determine the motion of nuclei in a molecule and influences possible reaction pathways. The coupling strength varies with the angle between the light electric field and valence orbital, and thereby adds another dimension to the effective molecular potential energy surface, allowing for the emergence of light-induced conical intersections. Here, we demonstrate in theory and experiment that the full complexity of such light-induced potential energy surfaces can be uncovered. In H, the simplest of molecules, we observe a strongly modulated angular distribution of protons which has escaped prior observation. These modulations directly result from ultrafast dynamics on the light-induced molecular potentials and can be modified by varying the amplitude, duration and phase of the mid-infrared dressing field. This opens new opportunities for manipulating the dissociation of small molecules using strong laser fields.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1906.08285,
title = {Probing multiphoton light-induced molecular potentials},
author = {Matthias Kübel and Michael Spanner and Zack Dube and Andrei Yu. Naumov and Szczepan Chelkowski and Andrei D. Bandrauk and Marc J. J. Vrakking and Paul B. Corkum and David M. Villeuve and A. Staudte},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1906.08285},
year = {2020}
}