Strong-field control of electron localization during molecular dissociation

Matthias F Kling (1, 2) , Christian Siedschlag (1) , Irina Znakovskaya (2) , Aart Jan Verhoef (2) , Sergey Zherebtsov (2) , Ferenc Krausz (2, 3) , Matthias Lezius (2) , Marc Jj Vrakking (1)

1 AMOLF - FOM Institute for Atomic and Molecular Physics
2 MPQ - Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik
3 Department für Physik [Garching]

We demonstrate how the waveform of light can be used to control a molecular dissociation by steering and localization of electrons. Experimental results have been obtained for the dissociative ionization of the homonuclear and heteronuclear Hydrogen derivates D2 and HD. Asymmetric ejection of the ionic fragments reveals that light-driven electronic motion prior to dissociation localizes the electron on one of the two ions in the diatomic molecular ions in a controlled way. Extension of these results to electron transfer in complex molecules suggests a new paradigm for controlling photochemistry.

Mots clés: Physical Sciences

Matthias F Kling, Christian Siedschlag, Irina Znakovskaya, Aart Jan Verhoef, Sergey Zherebtsov, et al.. Strong-field control of electron localization during molecular dissociation. Molecular Physics, 2008, 106 (02-04), pp.455-465. ⟨10.1080/00268970701864739⟩. ⟨hal-00513172⟩