Using Attosecond Technology to Image Molecular Orbitals Steacie
Institute for Molecular Sciences, NRC Wed. February 14, 2007
3:30 PM Stirling A| 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
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