Laser-induced stabilization and trapping andhardening in intense laser fields

We study the intensity-dependent behavior of laser-induced vibrational quasi-energy (VQE) resonance structure and photodissociation rates of H2+ molecular ions in intense laser fields and report a novel new high-intensity phenomenon. At strong fields, the vibrational levels are shifted and broadened and break into several separate VQE resonance groups. Distortion of the internuclear potential by the fields leads to the formation of various (field-dressed) adiabatic potential wells near multiphoton resonances which can support long-lived resonance states. The most striking finding is that high-lying VQE resonance states can in fact become more stabilized and longer lived at higher laser intensities, a phenomenon which may be termed as open-quotes bond hardening.close quotes Time-dependent calculations confirm the laser-induced stabilization reveals that molecular population may be trapped simultaneously in different potential wells, at different internuclear separations