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Updated: Jun 14, 2026

Measurement of Ultrafast Vibrational Coherences in Polyatomic Radical Cations with Strong-Field Adiabatic Ionization
Published on: August 6, 2018
Stark field control of nonadiabatic dynamics in triatomic hydrogen
Frank Baumgartner1, Hanspeter Helm
1Department of Physics, University of Freiburg, Stefan-Meier-Strasse 19, D-79104 Freiburg, Germany.
Abstract:
We show experimentally that an external electric field can be used to control the amplitudes of nonadiabatic paths taken by a dissociating molecule. In the example presented here, this control is achieved by Stark-field mixing in H(3) Rydberg states with different decay paths. The final state continuum is in each path formed by three-particle wave packets of slow neutral hydrogen atoms in their electronic ground state. Their momentum vector correlations show signs of interference, since the molecule can access the identical continuum via two distinctly different paths, involving different nonadiabatic coupling mechanisms. As an added feature a preferred alignment of the fragmentation plane in the laboratory frame emerges, corresponding to a selective dissociation of molecules oriented along the field direction.
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