FORMATION AND MEASUREMENT OF MOLECULAR QUANTUM PICOSTRUCTURES

Using two laser pulses of femtosecond duration we excite a diatomic mo lecule (I-2) to a dissociative state where the wave function is locali zed around two internuclear separations. The structure of the wave fun ction is controlled by the relative amplitude and the temporal separat ion of the exciting laser pulses. A delayed intense probe pulse measur es the square of the wave function as a function of the internuclear s eparation \Psi(R)\(2) by Coulomb exploding the molecule. We report a r esolution of similar to 2 Angstrom in the internuclear range similar t o 6-15 Angstrom. We discuss how intense femtosecond laser pulses provi de a different approach to time-resolved photochemistry.