Attosecond-recollision-controlled selective fragmentation of polyatomic molecules.
Control over various fragmentation reactions of a series of polyatomic molecules (acetylene, ethylene, 1,3-butadiene) by the optical waveform of intense few-cycle laser pulses is demonstrated experimentally. We show both experimentally and theoretically that the responsible mechanism is inelastic ionization from inner-valence molecular orbitals by recolliding electron wave packets, whose recollision energy in few-cycle ionizing laser pulses strongly depends on the optical waveform. Our work demonstrates an efficient and selective way of predetermining fragmentation and isomerization reactions in polyatomic molecules on subfemtosecond time scales.
Photonics Institute, Vienna University of Technology, A-1040 Vienna, Austria.
Xinhua
X
Xie
Katharina
K
Doblhoff-Dier
Stefan
S
Roither
Markus S
MS
Schöffler
Daniil
D
Kartashov
Huailiang
H
Xu
Tim
T
Rathje
Gerhard G
GG
Paulus
Andrius
A
Baltuška
Stefanie
S
Gräfe
Markus
M
Kitzler