Coupled electron-nuclear wavepacket dynamics in potassium dimers

Recently we have demonstrated control of valence-bond excitation of a molecule due to the interplay of the induced charge oscillation with the precisely tailored phase of the driving laser field (Bayer et al 2013 Phys. Rev. Lett. 110 123003). In this contribution we describe in more detail the two-colour experiment—a control pulse sequence followed by an ionizing probe pulse of a different wavelength. We provide details on the quantum dynamics simulations carried out to reproduce and to analyse the experimental results. The procedure for averaging over the focal intensity distribution in the interaction region and the method for orientation averaging, which are both crucial for the reproduction of our strong-field measurements, are also described in detail. The analysis of the temporal evolution of the expectation values of the wavepackets on the relevant potentials, the induced energetic shifts in the molecule and the modulation in the charge oscillation provides further insights into the interplay of the coupled nuclear-electron dynamics. Because the measured photoelectron spectra reveal the population of the target states we describe the quantum mechanical approach to calculate the photoelectron spectra and rationalize the results using Mulliken's difference potential method.