Molecular ion beams interrogated with ultrashort intense laser pulses

Abstract

Molecules have been interrogated with intense ultrashort laser pulses by many researchers for over a decade. In contrast, molecular-ion studies are scarce, though their number is increasing rapidly in the last few years. In this chapter we will discuss how these studies differ from those conducted on molecular targets, describe the main experimental methods used, and review the findings on the dissociation and ionization of the simplest molecular ion, H2+, as well as some of the discoveries concerning more complex molecular ions.