Communication: Two stages of ultrafast hydrogen migration in methanol driven by intense laser fields

J Chem Phys. 2010 Aug 21;133(7):071103. doi: 10.1063/1.3473931.

Abstract

Hydrogen migration in methanol induced by an intense laser field (0.2 PW/cm(2)) is investigated in real time by a pump-probe coincidence momentum imaging method. The observed temporal evolution of the kinetic energy spectra reveals that there are two distinctively different stages in the hydrogen migration processes in the singly charged methanol: ultrafast hydrogen migration occurring within the intense laser field ( approximately 38 fs) and slower postlaser pulse hydrogen migration ( approximately 150 fs).