Direct Production of CH(A(2)Delta) Radical from Intense Femtosecond Near-IR Laser Pulses

CH(A(2)Delta) radical formation was observed in bromoform and methanol vapor in argon plasma with near-infrared femtosecond laser pulses (43 fs, 1030 nm, 100 kHz, 250 mu J/pulse). The beam was focused with an achromatic lens, creating very high intensity in the plasma that caused Coulomb explosion (calculated intensity was similar to 1.1 X 10(16) W/cm(2) in the focal point). The emitted fluorescence light was measured with high spectral (1-10 cm(-1)) and temporal resolution (5 ns) with an FT-Vis spectrometer. The step-scan technique allowed the reconstruction of the time-resolved fluorescence spectra from CH(A-X) emission. The emission from atomic lines such as H, Br, C, and O was observed and also from C+ cations and CH and C-2 radicals. This indicates that in a significant portion of these organic molecules, all chemical bonds were deaved in the Coulomb explosion. For both organics, the peak maximum of the CH(A) emission occurred at about 10 ns after excitation by the femtosecond pulse. After the maximum, a rapid emission decay was observed in the case of bromoform (monoexponential decay, t = 10 ns). The fluorescence decay was biexponential when methanol was used as the source for CH(A) generation. It can be assumed that CH(A) generation involved a fast and a slower path with some secondary reactions via the stepwise loss of hydrogen atoms from the CH3 group. The time constants were t(1) = 7.8-8.3 ns and t(2) = 78-82 ns for the fast and slow components, respectively, and very similar values were obtained at 10 and 25 mbar total pressures. However, in the case of bromoform, the C-Br bonds are significantly weaker; therefore, these atoms can be removed even in a single step via multiphoton absorption. The rotational temperature of CH(A) radicals generated from methanol decreased rapidly in the 30-55 ns time period from 2770 +/- 80 to 1530 +/- 50 K. The vibrational temperature increased from 3530 +/- 450 to 9810 +/- 760 K in the 30-80 ns time period and then started to decrease (the average temperatures were T-rot = 910 +/- 20 K and T-vib = 7490 +/- 340 K at 100 ns). This initial increase of T-vib is thought to be the result of electron collision with the CH radicals. The high temperatures of the fragment may indicate the roaming reaction associated with the Coulomb explosion of the parent molecule. We demonstrated that CH(A) radicals can be produced from both organic compounds, and the step-scan technique is ideal for the characterization of their time-resolved spectra using the 100 kHz high repetition rate near-infrared femtosecond laser pulses. The FT/UV-vis step-scan technique can detect neutral species directly with high spectral and time resolution, thus it is a complementary technique to the experiments utilizing ion detection schemes, such as velocity map imaging

Control of THz field waveform emitted from air plasma by chirping two-color laser pulses

Few-cycle terahertz pulses can be effectively generated in air plasma by mixing an ultrashort laser pulse with its second harmonic. The temporal overlap between these two pulses is critical, which can degrade with the mismatch of group velocities. However, the overlap between the fundamental and second harmonic can be controlled by pre-stretching the temporally separated pulses. In this paper, we study the role of chirp and the relative phase between the fundamental and its second harmonic in the formation of the terahertz waveform. We demonstrate experimentally and explain within the context of transient photocurrent model, that the combination of chirping and relative phase shifting can provide a powerful tool to control the waveform of the terahertz pulse