Laser-induced deformation of an inner valence molecular orbital in ethanol

We reveal that an intense laser field deforms an inner valence orbital (10a\u27) in the ethanol molecule. Using photoelectron-photoion coincidence momentum imaging, we measure the recoil-frame photoelectron angular distribution (RFPAD) for the CD2OH+ production channel of CH3CD2OH induced by a circularly polarized intense (I0 ≈ 8×1013 W/cm2) near-infrared (λ ≈ 795 nm) laser field. Ab initio simulations show that the orbital deformation depends strongly on the laser field direction, and that the measured RFPAD cannot be reproduced without taking the orbital deformation into account.XXXIst International Conference on Photonic, Electronic, and Atomic Collisions (ICPEAC2019