RESUMEN
The role of the nuclear degrees of freedom in nonlinear two-photon single ionization of H_{2} molecules interacting with short and intense vacuum ultraviolet pulses is investigated, both experimentally and theoretically, by selecting single resonant vibronic intermediate neutral states. This high selectivity relies on the narrow bandwidth and tunability of the pulses generated at the FERMI free-electron laser. A sustained enhancement of dissociative ionization, which even exceeds nondissociative ionization, is observed and controlled as one selects progressively higher vibronic states. With the help of ab initio calculations for increasing pulse durations, the photoelectron and ion energy spectra obtained with velocity map imaging allow us to identify new photoionization pathways. With pulses of the order of 100 fs, the experiment probes a timescale that lies between that of ultrafast dynamical processes and that of steady state excitations.
RESUMEN
The original version of this Article contained an error in the fifth sentence of the first paragraph of the 'Application on H2' section of the Results, which incorrectly read 'The role of electron correlation is quite apparent in this presentation: Fig. 1a is empty for the uncorrelated Hartree-Fock wave function, since projection of the latter wave function onto the 2pσu orbital is exactly zero, while this is not the case for the fully correlated wave function (Fig. 1d); also, Fig. 1b, c for the uncorrelated description are identical, while Fig. 1e, f for the correlated case are significantly different.' The correct version replaces 'Fig. 1e, f' with 'Fig. 2e and f'.
RESUMEN
The toolbox for imaging molecules is well-equipped today. Some techniques visualize the geometrical structure, others the electron density or electron orbitals. Molecules are many-body systems for which the correlation between the constituents is decisive and the spatial and the momentum distribution of one electron depends on those of the other electrons and the nuclei. Such correlations have escaped direct observation by imaging techniques so far. Here, we implement an imaging scheme which visualizes correlations between electrons by coincident detection of the reaction fragments after high energy photofragmentation. With this technique, we examine the H2 two-electron wave function in which electron-electron correlation beyond the mean-field level is prominent. We visualize the dependence of the wave function on the internuclear distance. High energy photoelectrons are shown to be a powerful tool for molecular imaging. Our study paves the way for future time resolved correlation imaging at FELs and laser based X-ray sources.
