Hamburg 2009 – scientific programme

Parts | Days | Selection | Search | Downloads | Help

A: Fachverband Atomphysik

A 11: Attosecond Physics I

A 11.4: Talk

Tuesday, March 3, 2009, 15:15–15:30, VMP 6 HS-B

Monitoring nuclear and electronic dynamics using high-order harmonic radiation — •Stefanie Gräfe¹, Daniil V. Kartashov², and Joachim Burgdörfer¹ — ¹Institut für Theoretische Physik, TU Wien, Österreich — ²Institut für Photonik, TU Wien, Österreich

We investigate the possibility to simultaneously monitor nuclear and electronic dynamics in diatomic molecules using HHG. Applying a simple two-dimensional model analogously to the hydrogen molecular ion with one nuclear and one electronic coordinate, we demonstrate numerically the possibility to use high-order harmonic spectra as a dynamical structural probe, identifying the traces of nuclear and electronic dynamics in the HHG spectra.

The harmonic spectra contain rich information, e.g. peak broadening due to nuclear motion, the prominent feature of two-center interference minima showing directly the temporal change in the internuclear distance [Lein et al., Phys. Rev. A, 2002]. We can distinguish the contributions of different electronic states leading to additional interferences in high-harmonics radiation. The occurrence of interference structures is a result of inversion symmetry breaking due to localization dynamics; the electron being ionized from one state (or one potential well) may recombine to several other coherently populated states residing in both potential wells. As this process is only efficient in a region where the nuclear autocorrelation function is substantially different from zero, the information on the internuclear coordinate maps onto cross terms in a defined spectral energy region. Support by FWF-SFB ADLIS and the Lise-Meitner program, M1077-N16, is highly acknowledged.