Photodissociation of the carbon monoxide dication in the 3 Sigma- manifold: Quantum control simulation towards the C2+ + O channel

The photodissociation and laser assisted dissociation of the carbon monoxide dication X3Π CO2+ into
the 3Σ− states are investigated. Ab initio electronic structure calculations of the adiabatic potential
energy curves, radial nonadiabatic couplings, and dipole moments for the X 3Π state are performed
for 13 excited 3Σ− states of CO2+. The photodissociation cross section, calculated by time-dependent
methods, shows that the C+ + O+ channels dominate the process in the studied energy range. The
carbon monoxide dication CO2+ is an interesting candidate for control because it can be produced in
a single, long lived, v = 0 vibrational state due to the instability of all the other excited vibrational
states of the ground 3Π electronic state. In a spectral range of about 25 eV, perpendicular transition
dipoles couple this 3Π state to a manifold of 3Σ− excited states leading to numerous C+ + O+
channels and a single C2+ + O channel. This unique channel is used as target for control calculations
using local control theory. We illustrate the efficiency of this method in order to find a tailored
electric field driving the photodissociation in a manifold of strongly interacting electronic states.
The selected local pulses are then concatenated in a sequence inspired by the “laser distillation”
strategy. Finally, the local pulse is compared with optimal control theory.