Quantum control of photodissociation by manipulation of bond softening

Adi Natan, Uri Lev, Vaibhav S. Prabhudesai, Barry D. Bruner, Daniel Strasser, Dirk Schwalm, Itzik Ben-Itzhak, Oded Heber, Daniel Zajfman, Yaron Silberberg

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

We present a method to control photodissociation by manipulating the bond-softening mechanism occurring in strong shaped laser fields, namely by varying the chirp sign and magnitude of an ultrashort laser pulse. Manipulation of bond softening is experimentally demonstrated for strong-field (1012-1013 W/cm2) photodissociation of H2+, exhibiting a substantial increase of dissociation by positively chirped pulses with respect to both negatively chirped and transform-limited pulses. The measured kinetic energy release and angular distributions are used to quantify the degree of dissociation control. The control mechanism is attributed to the interplay of dynamic alignment and chirped light induced potential curves.

Original languageEnglish
Article number043418
JournalPhysical Review A
Volume86
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - 15 Oct 2012

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Quantum control of photodissociation by manipulation of bond softening'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this