title: Communication: Tracking molecular structure deformation and relaxation in real time.
abstract: The CH3I structural deformation induced by strong laser fields is revealed by time- and frequency-resolved ro-vibrational spectra. The experimental results show that the CH3I molecule undergoes ultrafast structural deformation of CH3 "umbrella-closing" induced by the strong fs laser field (more than 10(11) W/cm(2)) and followed by a structural relaxation of "umbrella-opening" within an exponential decay time scale of ∼620 fs. This study provides a first glimpse of the immense potential of the time- and frequency-resolved vibrational spectra in studying molecular deformation dynamics.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China.
authors.forename: W L
authors.initials: WL
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China.
authors.forename: Y F
authors.initials: YF
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China.
authors.forename: Y Q
authors.initials: YQ
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 457 Zhongshan Road, Dalian 116023, China.
authors.forename: L P
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Duo
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China.
authors.forename: L L
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China.
authors.forename: G Y
authors.initials: GY
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China.
authors.forename: Y Q
authors.initials: YQ
authors.lastname: Yang