Multi-messenger tracking of coherence loss during bond breaking
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arXiv
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Preprint |
| Published: |
2025
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| Subjects: | |
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| _version_ | 1866911325550018560 |
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| author | Wang, Tian Haram, Nida Dube, Zack Hamer, Kyle A. Mi, Yonghao Karimi, Fatemeh Naumov, Andrei Yu. Vampa, Giulio Vozzi, Caterina Liu, Xiaojun Stolow, Albert Schuurman, Michael Douguet, Nicolas Villeneuve, David Corkum, Paul B. Staudte, Andre |
| author_facet | Wang, Tian Haram, Nida Dube, Zack Hamer, Kyle A. Mi, Yonghao Karimi, Fatemeh Naumov, Andrei Yu. Vampa, Giulio Vozzi, Caterina Liu, Xiaojun Stolow, Albert Schuurman, Michael Douguet, Nicolas Villeneuve, David Corkum, Paul B. Staudte, Andre |
| contents | Coupled electronic and nuclear motions govern chemical reactions, yet disentangling their interplay during bond rupture remains challenging. Here we follow the light-induced fragmentation of Br$_2$ using a coincidence-based multi-messenger approach. A UV pulse prepares the dissociative state, and strong-field ionization probes the evolving system. Coincident measurement of three-dimensional photoion and photoelectron momenta provides real-time access to both the instantaneous internuclear separation and the accompanying reorganization of the electronic structure, allowing us to determine the timescale of bond breaking. We find that electronic rearrangement concludes well before the nuclei reach the bond-breaking distance, revealing a hierarchy imposed by electron-nuclear coupling. Supported by semiclassical modelling, the results show that the stretched Br$_2$ molecule behaves as a two-centre interferometer in which the loss of coherence between atomic centres encodes the coupled evolution of electrons and nuclei. Our work establishes a general framework for imaging ultrafast electron-nuclear dynamics in molecules. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2512_16132 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Multi-messenger tracking of coherence loss during bond breaking Wang, Tian Haram, Nida Dube, Zack Hamer, Kyle A. Mi, Yonghao Karimi, Fatemeh Naumov, Andrei Yu. Vampa, Giulio Vozzi, Caterina Liu, Xiaojun Stolow, Albert Schuurman, Michael Douguet, Nicolas Villeneuve, David Corkum, Paul B. Staudte, Andre Chemical Physics Atomic Physics Optics Quantum Physics Coupled electronic and nuclear motions govern chemical reactions, yet disentangling their interplay during bond rupture remains challenging. Here we follow the light-induced fragmentation of Br$_2$ using a coincidence-based multi-messenger approach. A UV pulse prepares the dissociative state, and strong-field ionization probes the evolving system. Coincident measurement of three-dimensional photoion and photoelectron momenta provides real-time access to both the instantaneous internuclear separation and the accompanying reorganization of the electronic structure, allowing us to determine the timescale of bond breaking. We find that electronic rearrangement concludes well before the nuclei reach the bond-breaking distance, revealing a hierarchy imposed by electron-nuclear coupling. Supported by semiclassical modelling, the results show that the stretched Br$_2$ molecule behaves as a two-centre interferometer in which the loss of coherence between atomic centres encodes the coupled evolution of electrons and nuclei. Our work establishes a general framework for imaging ultrafast electron-nuclear dynamics in molecules. |
| title | Multi-messenger tracking of coherence loss during bond breaking |
| topic | Chemical Physics Atomic Physics Optics Quantum Physics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.16132 |