Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 13, 2026

Measurement of Ultrafast Vibrational Coherences in Polyatomic Radical Cations with Strong-Field Adiabatic Ionization
Published on: August 6, 2018
Probing orbital structure of polyatomic molecules by high-order harmonic generation
R Torres1, N Kajumba, Jonathan G Underwood
1Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London, London SW7 2BW, United Kingdom.
Abstract:
The effects of electronic structure and symmetry are observed in laser driven high-order harmonic generation for laser aligned conjugated polyatomic molecular systems. The dependence of the harmonic yield on the angle between the molecular axis and the polarization of the driving laser field is seen to contain the fingerprint of the highest occupied molecular orbitals in acetylene and allene, a good quantitative agreement with calculations employing the strong field approximation was found. These measurements support the extension of the recently proposed molecular orbital imaging techniques beyond simple diatomic molecules to larger molecular systems.
Related Concept Videos
Molecular Orbital Theory II
Molecular Orbital Theory I
Hybridization of Atomic Orbitals I
Atomic Orbitals
Hybridization of Atomic Orbitals II
MO Theory and Covalent Bonding

