DISTORTION OF MOLECULAR ELECTRON-DENSITY DISTRIBUTIONS BY AN INTENSE LASER FIELD - DISSOCIATIVE IONIZATION OF CCL4

The interaction of a tetrahedral molecule (carbon tetrachloride) with intense, 532 nm, 35 ps, 10(13) W cm(-2) linearly polarized, laser fiel ds is explored theoretically and experimentally. Distortions caused by the laser field in the molecular electron density distributions are c omputed in an approximate fashion using quantum-chemical techniques. A comparative experimental study is performed of the dissociative ioniz ation of CCl4 in such an intense laser field and also by electron impa ct. Significant differences are observed and attempts are made to expl ore the possibility that these can be explained using field-distorted electron density distributions. Angular distributions of the Cl+ fragm ent ion have also been measured and show a pronounced anisotropy with the ion signal being detected mainly along the direction of the laser' s polarization axis.