P. W. Dooley

Two-pulse alignment of molecules

Field-free alignment of gas-phase molecules can be achieved by creating rotational wavepackets with a short laser pulse. We demonstrate that the degree of alignment can be improved by illuminating the molecules with a second laser pulse at a specific time during the evolution of the original rotational wavepacket.

Laser Coulomb explosion imaging for probing molecular structure and dynamics

We measure molecular structure of D2O and SO2 with ~0.3-Angstrom resolution using laser Coulomb explosion imaging. Exciting a vibrational wave packet we observe 3-D molecular dynamics with sub-5fs resolution.