Interaction of toluene with two-color asymmetric laser fields: controlling the directional emission of molecular hydrogen fragments

J Chem Phys. 2014 Sep 14;141(10):104319. doi: 10.1063/1.4895097.

Abstract

The interaction of toluene with strong asymmetric two-color laser irradiation of 40 fs duration is studied by means of Time of flight mass spectrometry. Highly energetic H2(+) and H3(+) fragment ions are produced through an isomerization process taking place within transient multiply charged parent ions. Comparative study of deuterium labeled toluene isotopes enables the discrimination between molecular hydrogen fragments formed exclusively within the CH3- part from those that require hydrogen atom exchange between the former and the phenyl moiety. It is demonstrated that by manipulating the relative phase of the ω/2ω field components the selective ionization of oriented toluene molecules can be used as a tool to control the directional emission of the H2(+), H3(+) species.