Wavepacket interferometry for nuclear densities and flux densities

Abstract

The traditional wavepacket interferometry for nuclear densities is extended to nuclear flux densities. Accordingly, a molecule vibrating in an electronic excited state may be prepared such that at a given time, the nuclear densities correspond to a broad distribution of the molecular bond, from short to long distances, which is subdivided into a chain of lobes. We discover that neighbouring lobes, or groups of lobes, may flow towards alternating directions, implying alternating bond stretches and bond compressions. The corresponding nuclear flux densities may be controlled by appropriate parameters of the two laser pulses, which generate the underlying interferences. Similar patterns of the nuclear densities and flux densities may also be created by a single laser pulse, which may cause interferences of the overlapping tail and head of a wavepacket as they run towards or away from a turning point, respectively. The phenomena are demonstrated for the model system I2(B).