Publication Date:
2006-03-04
Description:
We demonstrate a technique that uses high-order harmonic generation in molecules to probe nuclear dynamics and structural rearrangement on a subfemtosecond time scale. The chirped nature of the electron wavepacket produced by laser ionization in a strong field gives rise to a similar chirp in the photons emitted upon electron-ion recombination. Use of this chirp in the emitted light allows information about nuclear dynamics to be gained with 100-attosecond temporal resolution, from excitation by an 8-femtosecond pulse, in a single laser shot. Measurements on molecular hydrogen and deuterium agreed well with calculations of ultrafast nuclear dynamics in the H2+ molecule, confirming the validity of the method. We then measured harmonic spectra from CH4 and CD4 to demonstrate a few-femtosecond time scale for the onset of proton rearrangement in methane upon ionization.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Baker, S -- Robinson, J S -- Haworth, C A -- Teng, H -- Smith, R A -- Chirila, C C -- Lein, M -- Tisch, J W G -- Marangos, J P -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2006 Apr 21;312(5772):424-7. Epub 2006 Mar 2.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London, Prince Consort Road, South Kensington, London SW7 2BZ, UK.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16513942" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
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