Departmental Colloquium

Using Attosecond Technology to Image Molecular Orbitals

Paul Corkum
Steacie Institute for Molecular Sciences, NRC

Time
Wed. February 14, 2007     3:30 PM     Stirling A

Abstract

An interferometer can determine everything about the interfering waves. We would “see” a molecular orbital if we could make an electron interferometer in which one wave was the orbital. Attosecond technology does just that. When an intense laser pulse illuminates a molecule, tunnelling splits the ionizing electron. One component of the electron is accelerated away from the ion but once the field reverses sign, it is driven back. The other component remains bound. These are the two arms of the interferometer. We observe the interference in the emitted radiation --- the attosecond pulses. I will describe how the Highest Occupied Molecular Orbital of a N2 molecule is imaged and how the duration of an attosecond optical pulse is measured.

Refreshments will be available 15 min before the talk

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