title: Carrier-envelope phase control over pathway interference in strong-field dissociation of H2+.
abstract: The dissociation of an H2+ molecular-ion beam by linearly polarized, carrier-envelope-phase-tagged 5 fs pulses at 4×10(14) W/cm2 with a central wavelength of 730 nm was studied using a coincidence 3D momentum imaging technique. Carrier-envelope-phase-dependent asymmetries in the emission direction of H+ fragments relative to the laser polarization were observed. These asymmetries are caused by interference of odd and even photon number pathways, where net zero-photon and one-photon interference predominantly contributes at H+ + H kinetic energy releases of 0.2-0.45 eV, and net two-photon and one-photon interference contributes at 1.65-1.9 eV. These measurements of the benchmark H2+ molecule offer the distinct advantage that they can be quantitatively compared with ab initio theory to confirm our understanding of strong-field coherent control via the carrier-envelope phase.
authors.affiliation: J. R. Macdonald Laboratory, Department of Physics, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas 66506, USA.
authors.forename: Nora G
authors.initials: NG
authors.lastname: Kling
authors.forename: K J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Betsch
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zohrabi
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zeng
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Anis
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Ablikim
authors.forename: Bethany
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Jochim
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kübel
authors.forename: M F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Kling
authors.forename: K D
authors.initials: KD
authors.lastname: Carnes
authors.forename: B D
authors.initials: BD
authors.lastname: Esry
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Ben-Itzhak