Steering of hydrogen migration in hydrocarbons using intense few-cycle laser fields

Structural rearrangements in hydrocarbons, namely acetylene, allene and toluene, are initiated by phase- and intensity-controlled few-cycle laser pulses. The momentum distributions of several ionic fragments are monitored using single-shot VMI and COLTRIMS. The results show that the hydrogen migration in these hydrocarbons can be steered by changing the CEP and the intensity of the few-cycle pulses. Quantum dynamical calculations performed on acetylene and allene show that a superposition of vibrational modes can be created by wave-form controlled few-cycle laser fields, which will result in a directionality of the hydrogen migration [1]. This mechanism, which appears to be of general importance for such complex molecules, should also be able to explain the molecular dynamics observed in toluene [2]. [1] M. K\"{u}bel, \textit{et al}., arXiv:1508.04018. [2] H. Li, \textit{et al}., \textit{Struct. Dyn}. \textbf{3}, 043206(2016).