Dissociation of Benzene Molecule in a Strong Laser Field

M. E. Sukharev, General Physics Institute of RAS

Dissociation of benzene molecule in a strong low-frequency linearly polarized laser field is considered theoretically under the conditions of recent experiments. Analogy with the dissociation of diatomic molecules has been found. The dissociation probability of benzene molecule has been derived as a function of time. The three-photon dissociate process is shown to be realized in experiments.

Introduction.

The number of articles devoted to the interaction of molecules with a strong laser field increased considerably in recent years. The main features of interaction between diatomic molecules and a laser radiation were considered in a great number of experimental [1-5] and theoretical [6-9] papers. Classical and quantum investigations of spatial alignment of diatomic molecules and their molecular ions in a strong laser field, as well as ionization and dissociation of these molecules and their molecular ions account for physical pictures of all processes.

However, when considering complex organic molecules, we observe physical phenomena to be richer, and they are not thoroughly investigated. Most of results obtained for diatomic molecules can be generalized to the multi-atomic molecules. This short paper contains the results of theoretical derivations for dissociation of benzene molecule C6H6 in the field of linearly polarized Ti:Sapphire laser. Data were taken from experimental results by Chin’s group, Ref. [4]. We use the atomic system of units throughout the paper.

Theoretical approach.

Let us consider the benzene molecule C6H6 in the field of Ti:Sapphire laser with the wavelength l=400 nm, pulse length t=300 fs and maximum intensity Imax=2´1014 W/cm2. According to Ref. [4] first electron is ejected from this neutral molecule and then the dissociation of C6H6+-ion occurs.

The most probable channel for decay of this ion is the separation into the equal parts :

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Dissociation of Benzene Molecule in a Strong Laser Field

Dissociation of Benzene Molecule in a Strong Laser Field