The anharmonic vibrational ladder of nitric oxide (NO) is climbed by irradiating the molecule with femtosecond infrared (IR) pulses. The free-electron laser FELIX is tuned to l = 5.3 µm with a bandwidth of D l = 0.3 µm, corresponding to a pulse duration of 150 femtoseconds. Transfer to the excited states of NO is monitored by 1 + 1 REMPI. Population is found up to v' = 5, the highest level within reach of the IR bandwidth. The average transfer per step of the ladder is found to be 17%.

Chem. Phys. Lett.

Maas, D. J., Duncan, D. I., van der Meer, A. F. G., van der Zande, W. J., & Noordam, L. D. (1997). Vibrational ladder climbing in NO by ultrashort infrared laser pulses. Chem. Phys. Lett., 270, 45–49.