Effect of linear chirp on strong field photodissociation of H₂ ⁺

We report the experimental findings of a systematic study of the effect of linear chirp on strong field photodissociation of H₂⁺. For vibrational levels around or above the one photon crossing, the effect manifests itself in terms of a shift in the kinetic energy release (KER) peaks. The peaks shift up for negative chirp whereas they shift down for positive chirp. The measurements are carried out by varying two of the three laser pulse characteristics, energy, pulse peak intensity and linear chirp, while keeping the third constant. The shifts in the KER peaks are found to be intensity dependent for a given value of chirp. However, in the last two cases (i.e., fixed pulsed energy and fixed pulse peak intensity), they are found to be independent of the chirp magnitude. The results are understood on the basis of saturation of photodissociation probabilities for these levels.