Carrier-envelope phase dependences of D$_2$ dissociation into Rydberg deuterium fragments*

Control via the carrier-envelope phase (CEP) has been observed experimentally as asymmetries in the molecular dissociation direction, and more rarely as oscillations in the dissociation yield. A general theory of CEP dependences attributes these oscillations to interference of dissociation pathways involving a different net number of photons [1]. The laser-induced dissociation of D$_2$ provides an excellent test bed for the generality of this theory. Our measurements of long-lived D* fragments exhibit strong oscillations of the asymmetry and yield with CEP in both low- and high-energy dissociation. As predicted, the periodicity shows 1-photon difference in the asymmetry and 2-photon difference in the yield. Moreover, at some dissociation energies we can identify smaller contributions from interfering dissociation paths with a larger net photon-number difference. \\[4pt] [1] V. Roudnev and B. D. Esry, Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 99}, 220406 (2007)