4:00 PM–4:00 PM, Friday, May 20, 2005
Burnham Yates Conference Center - Lancaster 4:00-5:30 pm
A.M. Sayler
P.Q. Wang
J.F. Xia
M.A. Smith
R. Cabrera-Trujillo
K.D. Carnes
B.D. Esry
I. Ben-Itzhak
(J.R. Macdonald Laboratory, Department of Physics, Kansas State University)
Laser-induced dissociation of O$_{2}^{+}$ has been experimentally studied with ultrashort ($\sim $50 fs) intense (10$^{14}$ to 10$^{15}$ W/cm$^{2})$ laser pulses at 790 nm using kinematically complete coincidence 3D momentum imaging. The resulting kinetic energy release (KER) distribution has several distinct peaks, each of which has a unique angular distribution. The lower KER features are peaked around the laser polarization, while at higher KER, dissociation perpendicular to the laser polarization is significant. For comparison, a theoretical study of O$_{2}^{+}$ dissociation using the Electron-Nuclear Dynamics (END) approach with a laser pulse included in the time-dependent dynamics is underway. Preliminary results also indicate that ionization, which occurs predominantly at the high end of the intensity range, is strongly peaked along the laser polarization.