Experimental and theoretical studies of the channel phase in the coherent control of molecular processes

The source of the phase lag between different product channels in coherent control experiments is explored. It is shown theoretically that a structured continuum is required to obtain a non-zero channel phase. An isotope effect in the photoionization of HI and DI suggests a direct coupling between electronic and nuclear degrees of freedom. The occurrence of a channel phase is explained also in the context of multichannel quantum defect theory, resolving an earlier controversy.NRC publication: Ye