Suppressed dissociation of H(2)(+) vibrational states by reduced dipole coupling.
The suppression of H(2)(+) strong-field dissociation has intrigued experimentalists and theorists since the early days of laser-molecular science. We unravel a vibrational suppression effect due to weak dipole-matrix element coupling strengths of certain vibrational states, dependent on the laser frequency-a form of Cooper minima. This effect is demonstrated by our full-dimensional calculations on H(2)(+) dissociation and persists for a broad range of laser conditions including both weak and strong-field dissociation. Using a crossed-beams coincidence, three-dimensional momentum-imaging technique, the vibrational suppression effect is clearly observed for H(2)(+) and HD(+) at 790 and 395 nm, in good agreement with our theory.
J. R. Macdonald Laboratory, Department of Physics, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas 66506, USA.
J
J
McKenna
F
F
Anis
B
B
Gaire
Nora G
NG
Johnson
M
M
Zohrabi
K D
KD
Carnes
B D
BD
Esry
I
I
Ben-Itzhak