Imaging the Temporal Evolution of Molecular Orbitals during Ultrafast Dissociation

Phys Rev Lett. 2016 Dec 9;117(24):243002. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.243002. Epub 2016 Dec 6.

Abstract

We investigate the temporal evolution of molecular frame angular distributions of Auger electrons emitted during ultrafast dissociation of HCl following a resonant single-photon excitation. The electron emission pattern changes its shape from that of a molecular σ orbital to that of an atomic p state as the system evolves from a molecule into two separated atoms.