Re why the interest in making H3 from hydrocarbons ?
Because we can?
from the linked paper again,
"The study of laser-matter interactions using intense laser fields has been an active area of research since the emergence of femtosecond lasers and has led to the discovery of several interesting phenomena"
It goes on to say that early research has concentrated on atoms, but is moving on to the much more complicated things involved in molecules, and one presumes methane based molecules are relatively simple and well understood. The impression I get from the paper is not that this is a radical new development, but simply another step on a path that's already identified.
After all isn't the reason for and interest in doing pure research into weird stuff very much that you don't know where it will end up?
Biting the hand that feeds IT
