Abstract:
The physical mechanism of the excitation of high vibrational–rotational states and dissociation of polyatomic molecules in a strong infrared field is discussed. It is shown that when the level density is high, the process can be quantitatively described using a system of rate equations. For simplicity this system is replaced by a diffusion-type partial differential equation. The solution of this equation is applied to estimate the threshold radiation pulse energy needed for dissociation.