Research report 2009 - Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics

A guiding light for electrons

Authors
Kremer, Manuel; Fischer, Bettina; Moshammer, Robert; Feuerstein, Bernold; Ullrich, Joachim
Departments

Experimentelle Vielteilchenquantendynamik (Prof. Dr. Joachim Ullrich)
MPI für Kernphysik, Heidelberg

Quantendynamik (Prof. Dr. Christoph Keitel)
MPI für Kernphysik, Heidelberg

Summary
Ultrashort laser pulses enable to steer the simplest chemical reaction, i. e. the breakup of an H2+ molecular ion, into a proton and a neutral H atom such that the electron is preferably emitted with one of the protons in a specific direction. In addition, the application of a reaction microscope allows for a complete determination of the reaction dynamics including the emitted electron. The method is based on a pure quantum effect and marks an important step towards controlled manipulation of chemical reactions.

For the full text, see the German version.

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