Molecular pendular states in intense laser fields

Direct experimental evidence is presented for the formation of aligned states of the linear triatomic molecules CO₂ and CS₂; manifestation of pendular motion is obtained in high-resolution measurements of the angular distributions of fragments produced by an intense laser-field--molecule interaction. Classical calculations of the dissociation dynamics on an excited-state potential-energy surface yield results that qualitatively reproduce our experimental observations. {} 1996 The American Physical Society.