title: Few-cycle laser pulses to obtain spatial separation of OHF- dissociation products.
abstract: In a two-part theoretical study, field-free orientation of OHF(-) is achieved by means of moderately intense half-cycle, infrared laser pulses. In the first step, a short linearly polarized pulse excites a superposition of rigid rotor rotational eigenstates via interaction with the permanent dipole moment of OHF(-). After the field has been switched off, pronounced molecular orientation is observed for several picoseconds. In the second step, femtosecond few-cycle laser pulses are applied to the oriented system to steer vibrational dynamics, modeled by anharmonic vibrational wave functions calculated on a potential energy surface obtained with unrestricted fourth order Moller-Plesset ab initio calculations. The result is selective bond breaking of OHF, followed by the spatial separation of dissociation products in the space-fixed frame. Due to revivals in the rotational wavepacket, product yields can be enhanced over long times.
authors.affiliation: Computational Molecular Biophysics, Interdisciplinary Center for Scientific Computing (IWR), University of Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 368, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany. nadia.elghobashi@iwr.uni-heidelberg.de
authors.forename: Nadia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Elghobashi-Meinhardt
authors.forename: Leticia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: González
authors.forename: Ingo
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Barth
authors.forename: Tamar
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Seideman
mesh_terms: D006858:Hydrofluoric Acid / Q000737:chemistry*; D007834:Lasers; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D010100:Oxygen / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D006858:Hydrofluoric Acid; D010100:Oxygen