Steering the electron in H2(+) by nuclear wave packet dynamics

• Published in: Physical review letters Vol. 105; no. 22; p. 223001
• Main Authors: Fischer, Bettina, Kremer, Manuel, Pfeifer, Thomas, Feuerstein, Bernold, Sharma, Vandana, Thumm, Uwe, Schröter, Claus Dieter, Moshammer, Robert, Ullrich, Joachim
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 26-11-2010
• ISSN: 1079-7114
• DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.105.223001

By combining carrier-envelope phase (CEP) stable light fields and the traditional method of optical pump-probe spectroscopy we study electron localization in dissociating H2(+) molecular ions. Localization and localizability of electrons is observed to strongly depend on the time delay between the two CEP-stable laser pulses with a characteristic periodicity corresponding to the oscillating molecular wave packet. Variation of the pump-probe delay time allows us to uncover the underlying physical mechanism for electron localization, which are two distinct sets of interfering dissociation channels that exhibit specific temporal signatures in their asymmetry response.