Complementary Imaging of the Nuclear Dynamics in Laser-Excited Diatomic Molecular Ions in the Time and Frequency Domains

We investigated the bound and dissociative nuclear motion of vibrationally excited diatomic molecular by numerically calculating fragment-kinetic-energy-release spectra in the time and frequency domains. While the time-domain analysis shows nuclear oscillation periods, revival times, and the nuclear-probability-density evolution, quantum-beat (QB) imaging of the bound nuclear motion in the frequency domain complements time-domain investigations of the nuclear dynamics by revealing (i) QB frequencies and the nodal structure of vibrational states within a given adiabatic molecular potential curve and (ii) laser-electric-field-dressed molecular potential curves [1]. Our study of the variances and uncertainty products indicates increasing classical characteristics of the nuclear wave packet motion and fine-structure effects for increasingly massive dimers [2]. \\[4pt] [1] M. Magrakvelidze, A. Kramer, K. Bartschat, and U. Thumm, Submitted to J.Phys. B (2014). \\[0pt] [2] M. Magrakvelidze and U. Thumm, Phys. Rev. A 88, 013413 (2013).