Direct experimental evidence is presented for the formation of aligned states of the linear triatomic molecules ${\mathrm{CO}}_2$ and ${\mathrm{CS}}_2$; 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.

• Received 27 December 1995

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.53.3098