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Updated: Aug 13, 2026

Direct Imaging of Laser-driven Ultrafast Molecular Rotation
Published on: February 4, 2017
Femtosecond time-resolved photoelectron angular distributions probed during photodissociation of NO2
J A Davies1, R E Continetti, D W Chandler
1Combustion Research Facility, Sandia National Laboratories, P.O. Box 969, Livermore, California 94551-0969, USA.
Abstract:
Femtosecond time-resolved photoelectron angular distributions (PADs) are measured for the first time in the molecular frame of a dissociating molecule. Various stages of the dissociation process, NO2-->NO(C Pi)+O(P), are probed using ionization of the NO(C Pi) fragment to NO+(X Sigma(+)). The PADs evolve from forward-backward asymmetric with respect to the dissociation axis at short time delays ( < or =500 fs) to symmetric at long time delays (> or = 1 ps). Changes in the PADs directly reflect the time-dependent separation and reorientation of the dissociating photofragments.
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