Laser-induced Coulomb explosion imaging of alkali-metal dimers on helium nanodroplets

Henrik H. Kristensen; Lorenz Kranabetter; Constant A. Schouder; Jacqueline Arlt; Frank Jensen; Henrik Stapelfeldt

doi:10.1103/PhysRevA.107.023104

Laser-induced Coulomb explosion imaging of alkali-metal dimers on helium nanodroplets

Henrik H. Kristensen, Lorenz Kranabetter, Constant A. Schouder, Jacqueline Arlt, Frank Jensen, Henrik Stapelfeldt^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal/Conference contribution in journal/Contribution to newspaper › Journal article › Research › peer-review

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Abstract

Alkali-metal dimers, Ak2, residing on the surface of He nanodroplets, are doubly ionized due to multiphoton absorption from an intense 50-fs laser pulse leading to fragmentation into a pair of alkali-metal cations. Based on the measured kinetic energy distributions P(Ekin) of the Ak+ fragment ions, we retrieve the distribution of internuclear distances P(R) via the Ak22+ potential curve. Results are obtained for Na2, K2, Rb2, and Cs2 in both the 11ςg+ ground state and the lowest-lying triplet state 13ςu+ and for Li2 in the 13ςu+ state. For Li2, K2, and Rb2, the center of the measured P(R) is close to the center of the wave function ψ(R) of the vibrational ground state in the 11ςg+ and 13ςu+ states, whereas for Na2 and Cs2 small shifts are observed. For all the Ak2, the width of the measured P(R) is broader than |ψ(R)|2 by a factor of 2-4. We discuss that resonance effects in the multiphoton ionization and interaction of the Ak+ ion with the He droplet give rise to the observed deviations of P(R) from |ψ(R)|2. Despite these deviations, we deem that timed Coulomb explosion will allow imaging of vibrational wave packets in alkali-metal dimers on He droplets surfaces.

Original language	English
Article number	023104
Journal	Physical Review A
Volume	107
Issue	2
Number of pages	10
ISSN	2469-9926
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.107.023104
Publication status	Published - Feb 2023

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10.1103/PhysRevA.107.023104

https://arxiv.org/pdf/2212.03715

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@article{d0d739153ea242c3aec8b81d942dc09a,

title = "Laser-induced Coulomb explosion imaging of alkali-metal dimers on helium nanodroplets",

abstract = "Alkali-metal dimers, Ak2, residing on the surface of He nanodroplets, are doubly ionized due to multiphoton absorption from an intense 50-fs laser pulse leading to fragmentation into a pair of alkali-metal cations. Based on the measured kinetic energy distributions P(Ekin) of the Ak+ fragment ions, we retrieve the distribution of internuclear distances P(R) via the Ak22+ potential curve. Results are obtained for Na2, K2, Rb2, and Cs2 in both the 11ςg+ ground state and the lowest-lying triplet state 13ςu+ and for Li2 in the 13ςu+ state. For Li2, K2, and Rb2, the center of the measured P(R) is close to the center of the wave function ψ(R) of the vibrational ground state in the 11ςg+ and 13ςu+ states, whereas for Na2 and Cs2 small shifts are observed. For all the Ak2, the width of the measured P(R) is broader than |ψ(R)|2 by a factor of 2-4. We discuss that resonance effects in the multiphoton ionization and interaction of the Ak+ ion with the He droplet give rise to the observed deviations of P(R) from |ψ(R)|2. Despite these deviations, we deem that timed Coulomb explosion will allow imaging of vibrational wave packets in alkali-metal dimers on He droplets surfaces.",

author = "Kristensen, {Henrik H.} and Lorenz Kranabetter and Schouder, {Constant A.} and Jacqueline Arlt and Frank Jensen and Henrik Stapelfeldt",

note = "Funding Information: We thank J. Th{\o}gersen for expert help on keeping the laser system in optimal condition. H.S. acknowledges support from Villum Fonden through Villum Investigator Grant No. 25886. The numerical results presented in this work were obtained at the Centre for Scientific Computing, Aarhus. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023 American Physical Society. ",

year = "2023",

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doi = "10.1103/PhysRevA.107.023104",

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T1 - Laser-induced Coulomb explosion imaging of alkali-metal dimers on helium nanodroplets

AU - Kristensen, Henrik H.

AU - Kranabetter, Lorenz

AU - Schouder, Constant A.

AU - Arlt, Jacqueline

AU - Jensen, Frank

AU - Stapelfeldt, Henrik

N1 - Funding Information: We thank J. Thøgersen for expert help on keeping the laser system in optimal condition. H.S. acknowledges support from Villum Fonden through Villum Investigator Grant No. 25886. The numerical results presented in this work were obtained at the Centre for Scientific Computing, Aarhus. Publisher Copyright: © 2023 American Physical Society.

PY - 2023/2

Y1 - 2023/2

N2 - Alkali-metal dimers, Ak2, residing on the surface of He nanodroplets, are doubly ionized due to multiphoton absorption from an intense 50-fs laser pulse leading to fragmentation into a pair of alkali-metal cations. Based on the measured kinetic energy distributions P(Ekin) of the Ak+ fragment ions, we retrieve the distribution of internuclear distances P(R) via the Ak22+ potential curve. Results are obtained for Na2, K2, Rb2, and Cs2 in both the 11ςg+ ground state and the lowest-lying triplet state 13ςu+ and for Li2 in the 13ςu+ state. For Li2, K2, and Rb2, the center of the measured P(R) is close to the center of the wave function ψ(R) of the vibrational ground state in the 11ςg+ and 13ςu+ states, whereas for Na2 and Cs2 small shifts are observed. For all the Ak2, the width of the measured P(R) is broader than |ψ(R)|2 by a factor of 2-4. We discuss that resonance effects in the multiphoton ionization and interaction of the Ak+ ion with the He droplet give rise to the observed deviations of P(R) from |ψ(R)|2. Despite these deviations, we deem that timed Coulomb explosion will allow imaging of vibrational wave packets in alkali-metal dimers on He droplets surfaces.

AB - Alkali-metal dimers, Ak2, residing on the surface of He nanodroplets, are doubly ionized due to multiphoton absorption from an intense 50-fs laser pulse leading to fragmentation into a pair of alkali-metal cations. Based on the measured kinetic energy distributions P(Ekin) of the Ak+ fragment ions, we retrieve the distribution of internuclear distances P(R) via the Ak22+ potential curve. Results are obtained for Na2, K2, Rb2, and Cs2 in both the 11ςg+ ground state and the lowest-lying triplet state 13ςu+ and for Li2 in the 13ςu+ state. For Li2, K2, and Rb2, the center of the measured P(R) is close to the center of the wave function ψ(R) of the vibrational ground state in the 11ςg+ and 13ςu+ states, whereas for Na2 and Cs2 small shifts are observed. For all the Ak2, the width of the measured P(R) is broader than |ψ(R)|2 by a factor of 2-4. We discuss that resonance effects in the multiphoton ionization and interaction of the Ak+ ion with the He droplet give rise to the observed deviations of P(R) from |ψ(R)|2. Despite these deviations, we deem that timed Coulomb explosion will allow imaging of vibrational wave packets in alkali-metal dimers on He droplets surfaces.

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VL - 107

JO - Physical Review A

JF - Physical Review A

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ER -

Laser-induced Coulomb explosion imaging of alkali-metal dimers on helium nanodroplets

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