Control and imaging of interfering wave packets in dissociating I ₂ molecules

A study of the interference between two dissociating wave packets in molecular iodine was made numerically and experimentally. The time-dependent density for the internuclear position, |ψ(R,t)|², and for the internuclear velocity, |ψ(υ_R, t)|², of the wave packet were measured by an intense 20 fs nonresonant laser pulse. The pronounced interference pattern, exhibited in |ψ(R)|² and |ψ(V _R|², was controlled by the time separation of the two pump pulses. The internuclear position and velocity distributios which were experimentally determined were good agreement with calculated results for |ψ(R)|² and |ψ(υ_R)|².