"Centrifugal fragmentation" in the photodissociation of H2+ in intense laser fields

TL;DR

This paper investigates how intense laser fields induce centrifugal fragmentation in H2+ molecules, revealing the role of rotational dynamics and angular momentum in the dissociation process through quantum and classical analyses.

Contribution

It introduces a combined quantum and classical approach to explain centrifugal fragmentation in H2+ photodissociation under strong laser fields, highlighting the physical mechanism involving rotational dynamics.

Findings

Centrifugal fragmentation occurs at specific pulse durations and intensities.

Characteristic angular distributions of photofragments are observed.

Classical calculations clarify the physical mechanism of fragmentation.

Abstract

By means of quantum-dynamical and classical trajectory calculations of H2+ photodissociation in strong laser fields, it is shown that for certain combinations of pulse durations and intensities the rotational dynamics can lead to centrifugal fragmentation. In that case, the photofragments exhibit characteristic angular distributions. The classical calculations provide a transparent physical picture of this mechanism which is also very well established in collisions between atomic nuclei or liquid droplets: non-rotating systems are stable, whereas rotating systems fragment due to the decrease of the fragmentation barrier with increasing angular momentum.