  The dissociation dynamics of diatomic molecules interacting with (near)
optical laser pulses of different duration is investigated by an elaborate
discussion of the electric field of the laser and by a direct solution of the
time-dependent molecular Schr\"odinger equation. The systematic variation of
the pulse duration from the electronic time scale (attoseconds) to the nuclear
time scale (femtoseconds) shows that the employed few-cycle laser pulses lead
to well-known but quite different dissociation mechanisms. A comparative
calculation with a model pulse and an experimentally realized attosecond pulse
emphasizes that, and to what extent, a realistic modeling of the electric field
is of central importance in the attosecond regime.
