Laser sculpting of atomic sp, sp(2) , and sp(3) hybrid orbitals

Chunmei Liu; Jörn Manz; Yonggang Yang

doi:10.1002/cphc.201402588

Laser sculpting of atomic sp, sp(2) , and sp(3) hybrid orbitals

Chemphyschem. 2015 Jan 12;16(1):191-6. doi: 10.1002/cphc.201402588. Epub 2014 Sep 26.

Authors

Chunmei Liu¹, Jörn Manz, Yonggang Yang

Affiliation

¹ State Key Laboratory of Quantum Optics and Quantum Optics Devices, Institute of Laser Spectroscopy, Shanxi University, 92 Wucheng Road, Taiyuan 030006 (China).

PMID: 25257703
DOI: 10.1002/cphc.201402588

Abstract

Atomic sp, sp(2) , and sp(3) hybrid orbitals were introduced by Linus Pauling to explain the nature of the chemical bond. Quantum dynamics simulations show that they can be sculpted by means of a selective series of coherent laser pulses, starting from the 1s orbital of the hydrogen atom. Laser hybridization generates atoms with state-selective electric dipoles, opening up new possibilities for the study of chemical reaction dynamics and heterogeneous catalysis.

Keywords: bond theory; femtochemistry; hydrogen; laser control; photophysics.