Imaging the Breakdown of Molecular-Frame Dynamics through Rotational Uncoupling
Abstract
We demonstrate the breakdown of molecular-frame dynamics induced by the uncoupling of molecular rotation from electronic motion in molecular Rydberg states. We observe this non-Born-Oppenheimer regime in the time domain through photoelectron imaging of a coherent molecular Rydberg wave packet in N2. The photoelectron angular distribution shows a radically different time evolution than that of a typical molecular-frame-fixed electron orbital, revealing the uncoupled motion of the electron as it precesses around the averaged anisotropic potential of the rotating ion-core.
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