Visualizing quantum entanglement and the EPR paradox during the photodissociation of a diatomic molecule using two ultrashort laser pulses

Abstract

We investigate theoretically the dissociative ionization of a H2+ molecule using two ultrashort laser (pump-probe) pulses. The pump pulse prepares a dissociating nuclear wave packet on an ungerade surface of H2+. Next, an UV (or XUV) probe pulse ionizes this dissociating state at large (R = 20 - 100 bohr) internuclear distance. We calculate the momenta distributions of protons and photoelectrons which show a (two-slit-like) interference structure. A general, simple interference formula is obtained which depends on the electron and protons momenta, as well as on the pump-probe delay on the pulses durations and polarizations. This interference can be interpreted as visualization of an electron state delocalized over the two-centres. This state is an entangled state of a hydrogen atom with a momentum p and a proton with an opposite momentum. -p dissociating on the ungerade surface of H2+. This pump-probe scheme can be used to reveal the nonlocality of the electron which intuitively should be localized on just one of the protons separated by the distance R much larger than the atomic Bohr orbit.

References in corpus (3)

• Nonlocality of a single particle
• Bell test for the free motion of material particles
• Spatial pair correlations of atoms in molecular dissociation

Cited by in corpus (6)

• Essential entanglement for atomic and molecular physics
• Two-center Interferences in Photoionization of Dissociating H${}_2^{+}$ Molecule
• Oscillations in Quantum Entanglement During Rescattering
• Angular anisotropy of time delay in XUV/IR photoionization of H${}_2^{+}$
• Energy transfer among distant quantum systems in spatially shaped laser fields: Two H atoms with the internuclear separation of 5.29 nm (100 a.u.)
• Towards the full quantum dynamical description of photon induced processes in ${\mathrm{D}}_2^{+}$