Abstract

The ground electronic state is where most chemical reactions take place, and therefore, the ability to prepare molecules in highly excited, nonthermal states is an excellent starting point for controlling chemical reactions. In order to prepare a molecule in a significantly non-thermal way, the preparation must be completed on a time scale short compared to the energy redistribution time, of order of a picosecond. Moreover, the Franck-Condon factor dictates very low probability to directly excite a high vibrational state when starting from a molecule in its lowest states, due to minimal wavefunction overlaps between the states. Further experimental complications occur because electronic ground states of molecules do not normally fluoresce or ionize, so that their direct detection is very difficult.

© 2000 IEEE