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Imaging Of Alignment And Structural Changes Of Carbon Disulfide Molecules Using Ultrafast Electron Diffraction, Jie Yang, Joshua Beck, Cornelis J. Uiterwaal, Martin Centurion

Martin Centurion Publications

Imaging the structure of molecules in transient-excited states remains a challenge due to the extreme requirements for spatial and temporal resolution. Ultrafast electron diffraction from aligned molecules provides atomic resolution and allows for the retrieval of structural information without the need to rely on theoretical models. Here we use ultrafast electron diffraction from aligned molecules and femtosecond laser mass spectrometry to investigate the dynamics in carbon disulfide following the interaction with an intense femtosecond laser pulse. We observe that the degree of alignment reaches an upper limit at laser intensities below the ionization threshold, and find evidence of structural deformation, …