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

Abstract

Hydrogen migration in methanol induced by an intense laser field (0.2 PW/ cm2) 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 (∼38 fs) and slower postlaser pulse hydrogen migration (∼150 fs). © 2010 American Institute of Physics.