English

A combined experimental and theoretical study on realizing and using laser controlled torsion of molecules

Atomic Physics 2010-03-29 v1 Chemical Physics

Abstract

It is demonstrated that strong laser pulses can introduce torsional motion in the axially chiral molecule 3,5-diflouro-3',5'-dibromo-biphenyl (DFDBrBPh). A nanosecond laser pulse spatially aligns the stereogenic carbon-carbon (C-C) bond axis allowing a perpendicularly polarized, intense femtosecond pulse to initiate torsional motion accompanied by a rotation about the fixed axis. We monitor the induced motion by femtosecond time-resolved Coulomb explosion imaging. Our theoretical analysis corroborates the experimental findings and on the basis of these results we discuss future applications of laser induced torsion, viz., time-resolved studies of de-racemization and laser controlled molecular junctions based on molecules with torsion.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.0903.4463,
  title  = {A combined experimental and theoretical study on realizing and using laser controlled torsion of molecules},
  author = {C. B. Madsen and L. B. Madsen and S. S. Viftrup and M. P. Johansson and T. B. Poulsen and L. Holmegaard and V. Kumarappan and K. A. Jorgensen and H. Stapelfeldt},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0903.4463},
  year   = {2010}
}

Comments

10 pages, 9 figures, 2 tables; submitted to J. Chem. Phys.;