Manipulating the torsion of molecules by strong laser pulses
Atomic Physics
2009-02-23 v4
Abstract
A proof-of-principle experiment is reported, where torsional motion of a molecule, consisting of a pair of phenyl rings, is induced by strong laser pulses. A nanosecond laser pulse spatially aligns the carbon-carbon bond axis, connecting the two phenyl rings, allowing a perpendicularly polarized, intense femtosecond pulse to initiate torsional motion accompanied by an overall rotation about the fixed axis. The induced motion is monitored by femtosecond time-resolved Coulomb explosion imaging. Our theoretical analysis accounts for and generalizes the experimental findings.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.0809.2935,
title = {Manipulating the torsion of molecules by strong laser pulses},
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:0809.2935},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
4 pages, 4 figures, submitted to PRL; Major revision of the presentation of the material; Correction of ion labels in Fig. 2(a)