title: Carrier-envelope phase dependence of the directional fragmentation and hydrogen migration in toluene in few-cycle laser fields.
abstract: The dissociative ionization of toluene initiated by a few-cycle laser pulse as a function of the carrier envelope phase (CEP) is investigated using single-shot velocity map imaging. Several ionic fragments, CH3 (+), H2 (+), and H3 (+), originating from multiply charged toluene ions present a CEP-dependent directional emission. The formation of H2 (+) and H3 (+) involves breaking C-H bonds and forming new bonds between the hydrogen atoms within the transient structure of the multiply charged precursor. We observe appreciable intensity-dependent CEP-offsets. The experimental data are interpreted with a mechanism that involves laser-induced coupling of vibrational states, which has been found to play a role in the CEP-control of molecular processes in hydrocarbon molecules, and appears to be of general importance for such complex molecules.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Nora G
authors.initials: NG
authors.lastname: Kling
authors.forename: Benjamin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Förg
authors.affiliation: Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik , Hans-Kopfermann-Str. 1, D-85748 Garching, Germany.
authors.forename: Johannes
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Stierle
authors.affiliation: Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik , Hans-Kopfermann-Str. 1, D-85748 Garching, Germany.
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kessel
authors.affiliation: Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik , Hans-Kopfermann-Str. 1, D-85748 Garching, Germany.
authors.forename: Sergei A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Trushin
authors.forename: Matthias F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Kling
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Atomic and Molecular Physics Laboratory, University of Ioannina , Ioannina 45500, Greece.
authors.forename: Spyros
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kaziannis