Tomographic Extraction of the Internuclear Separation Based on Two-Center Interference with Aligned Diatomic...

Area of Science:

• Strong field physics
• Molecular spectroscopy
• Quantum optics

Background:

• Investigating molecular dynamics under intense laser fields is crucial for understanding electron behavior.
• Photoelectron momentum spectroscopy provides insights into molecular electronic structure and dynamics.

Purpose of the Study:

• To experimentally investigate the two-dimensional photoelectron momentum spectra of aligned diatomic molecules.
• To reveal novel structures in these spectra and understand their origin.
• To develop a new method for molecular imaging and measuring internuclear separation.

Main Methods:

• Experimental measurement of two-dimensional photoelectron momentum spectra.
• Utilizing intense laser fields to probe aligned diatomic molecules.
• Theoretical analysis using the molecular strong-field approximation and semiclassical methods.

Main Results:

• Observed a novel, prominent valley structure in high-energy photoelectron spectra.
• Correlated this valley structure with molecular alignment dependence.
• Attributed the structure to destructive two-center interference of rescattered electrons.

Conclusions:

• The valley structure arises from two-center interference in diatomic molecules.
• Demonstrated a novel tomographic method for extracting molecular internuclear separation.
• This method offers a more straightforward approach to molecular imaging compared to existing techniques.