Laser-induced molecular stabilization and trapping and chemical bond hardening in intense laser fields

Abstract

We study the intensity-dependent behavior of laser-induced vibrational quasi-energy (VQE) resonance structure and photodissociation rates of H 2 + molecular ions in intense laser fields at 775 nm and report a novel new high-intensity phenomenon. At strong fields, the vibrational levels are shifted and broadened substantially and break into several separate VQE resonance groups. distortion of the internuclear potential by the fields leads to the formation of various (field-dressed) adiabatic potential wells near multiphoton resonances which can support long-lived resonance states. The most striking finding is that high-lying VQE resonance states can in fact become more stabilized and longer lived at higher laser intensities, a phenomenon which may be termed as “bond hardening”. Time-dependent calculations confirm the laser-induced stabilization phenomenon and reveals that molecular population may be trapped simultaneously in different potential wells, at different internuclear separations (multiple well trapping).