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Science 27 April 2001:
Vol. 292. no. 5517, pp. 648 - 649
DOI: 10.1126/science.1060883
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Perspectives

LASER CHEMISTRY:
Keeping Reactions Under Quantum Control

Sean M. Hurley and A. Welford Castleman Jr.

It has long been proposed that reactions can be controlled with lasers, but success with complex systems had to wait until ultrafast lasers heralded the field of femtosecond chemistry. In their Perspective, Hurley and Castleman highlight the report of Levis et al., who show that strong-field laser pulses can be used to control a dissociative rearrangement reaction. Bonds are not only selectively broken but also selectively formed.

The authors are in the Departments of Chemistry and Physics at the Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA. E-mail: awc{at}psu.edu

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)