Femtosecond interferometry of molecular dynamics – the role of relative and absolute phase of two individual laser pulses

Abstract

Abstract Dynamical implications of the dissociation of a molecular ion under the influence of interferometrically generated light fields have been investigated by numerical solution of time dependent Schrödinger equations. As an example the dissociation of DCl+ ions by means of two interfering 7 fs laser pulses at 800 nm has been chosen. We demonstrate that product branching ratios D+:Cl+ can be manipulated from 10:1 to 1:10 not only by adjusting the appropriate delay time in the time-shifted two-pulse approach, but also by choosing the proper carrier envelope phase (CEP) of the two partial light fields. The effects of the phase shift related to the time shift and that of the CEP can be clearly distinguished.