Femtochemistry: recent advances and extension to high pressures

Recent advances made in laser femtochemistry are presented. Extensions to the high pressure regime (and liquids) are demonstrated, using an example, the classic case of iodine dissociation and recombination. In femtochemistry the motion of the nuclei is followed with femtosecond time resolution and the dynamics are studied during the course of the reaction — the transition states. The examples given here draw on increasing complexity — from elementary chemical reactions under isolated molecular conditions to more complex reactions with many degrees of freedom, and move toward the condensed phase limit