Photodissociation of D⁺₃in an intense, femtosecond laser field

Abstract

H+3 is the simplest triatomic molecule and plays an important role in laboratory and astrophysical plasmas. It is very stable both in terms of its electronic and nuclear degrees of freedom but is difficult to study in depth in the laboratory due to its ionic nature. In this communication, experimental results are presented for the strong field dissociation of the isotopic analogue D+3, using 30 fs, 800 nm laser pulses with intensities up to 1016 W cm−2. By employing a novel experimental set-up, ions were confined in an electrostatic ion trap so that dissociation of the molecule could be studied as it radiatively cools. It was determined that dissociation could only be observed for molecules in ro-vibrational states relatively close to the dissociation limit, while more tightly bound states demonstrated remarkable stability in even the strongest fields.

Dynamics of D3+slow dissociation induced by intense ultrashort laser pulses

“…Using the kinetic energy release (KER) distributions from dissociation we determine the most likely dissociation pathways. We also reassess the dissociation-path assignments suggested by Alexander et al [15], whose measurements were limited to time of flight of the neutral fragments without being able to distinguish different dissociation channels (namely D + + D 2 , D 2 + + D, or D + + D + D). Finally, we assert a form of control over the D 3 + dissociation through influencing the pathway by means of the pulse duration.…”

“…It is worth commenting on the recent findings of Alexander et al [15], who also measured the strong-field (30 fs, 800 nm at 10 14 -10 16 W/cm 2 ) dissociation of D 3 + , allowing the molecules to vibrationally cool over tens of milliseconds in an ion trap. Unfortunately, this scheme only allowed measurement of the time of flight of neutral fragments without determining their identity (i.e., D or D 2 ).…”

“…Classical model calculations of these fragmentation processes have been reported recently [14], while quantum mechanical treatment is still a challenge. In parallel, Alexander et al [15] reported photodissociation of D 3 + that was allowed to vibrationally cool by storage in an electrostatic trap. They found that the dissociation rate decreased as D 3 + cooled suggesting that, under the laser conditions used, dissociation is dominated by excited vibrational states.…”

Elucidating isotopic effects in intense ultrafast laser-driven D2H+fragmentation

“…+ fragmentation 2 out, by ourselves [20,21,22,23,24] and Alexander et al [25]. Due to its basic structure, measurements of H + 3 can provide a benchmark for theory -and ultimately help develop the theoretical tools needed to explore larger systems, as exemplified by Lötstedt et al [26,27].…”

Finite elements and the discrete variable representation in nonequilibrium Green's function calculations. Atomic and molecular models

“…With more than two nuclei, the molecular ion H + 3 can, in 1D, only be realized in its linear version [52], where the H-H bonds are oriented parallel to each other. Hence, the electrons move along the molecular axis and the one-electron potential is modeled as…”