The ultrafast structural response of solid parahydrogen: a complementary experimental/simulation investigation

A complete characterization, based on fs pump-probe spectroscopy and mol. dynamics simulations, is presented of the ultrafast dynamics of electronic bubble formation in solid para-H2 upon impulsive excitation of impurity-doped sites, which correlate with the lowest Rydberg state of the NO impurity. The high temporal resoln. of the expt. allows one to identify three time scales in the structural dynamics. A 1st ultrafast expansion (