THE DISSOCIATION DYNAMICS OF DIATOMIC-MOLECULES IN INTENSE LASER FIELDS

We have used interferometric techniques to show unambiguously that the fragment ion energies produced in the multielectron dissociative ioni zation (MEDI) of iodine vary with laser pulse rise time. A field ioniz ation, Coulomb explosion model is found to reproduce MEDI data on I-2 remarkably well. The lack of features associated with post-dissociativ e ionization in the MEDI spectra of Cl-2 is explained in terms of low dissociation rates for the singly (and possibly doubly) charged parent ions. These results remove the need for the much discussed, but highl y speculative, process of 'laser-induced stabilization'.