Manipulating molecules with intense lasers

Molecules exposed to intense, sub-picosecond laser fields exhibit phenomena such as above threshold ionisation, high harmonic generation, bond softeni ng, bond hardening (vibrational trapping) and alignment. They can be deflec ted, accelerated, focused, trapped and spun. More generally, one can manipu late the outcome of a uni- or bimolecular reaction by the coherent superpos ition of two or more lasers (coherent control) or by using a sequence of ul trashort laser pulses. This article will take a brief and necessarily limit ed look at some of these methods of molecular manipulation.