English

Far-from-equilibrium dynamics of angular momentum in a quantum many-particle system

Atomic and Molecular Clusters 2019-07-09 v2 Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics Quantum Gases Atomic Physics Chemical Physics

Abstract

We use laser-induced rotation of single molecules embedded in superfluid helium nanodroplets to reveal angular momentum dynamics and transfer in a controlled setting, under far-from-equilibrium conditions. As an unexpected result, we observe pronounced oscillations of time-dependent molecular alignment that have no counterpart in gas-phase molecules. Angulon theory reveals that these oscillations originate from the unique rotational structure of molecules in He droplets and quantum-state-specific transfer of rotational angular momentum to the many-body He environment on picosecond timescales. Our results pave the way to understanding collective effects of macroscopic angular momentum exchange in solid state systems in a bottom-up fashion.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1906.12238,
  title  = {Far-from-equilibrium dynamics of angular momentum in a quantum many-particle system},
  author = {Igor N. Cherepanov and Giacomo Bighin and Lars Christiansen and Anders Vestergaard Jørgensen and Richard Schmidt and Henrik Stapelfeldt and Mikhail Lemeshko},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1906.12238},
  year   = {2019}
}

Comments

5+9 pages, 3+1 figures