Orientation and Alignment Echoes
Atomic Physics
2017-08-15 v1 Chemical Physics
Classical Physics
Optics
Abstract
We present what is probably the simplest classical system featuring the echo phenomenon - a collection of randomly oriented free rotors with dispersed rotational velocities. Following excitation by a pair of time-delayed impulsive kicks, the mean orientation/alignment of the ensemble exhibits multiple echoes and fractional echoes. We elucidate the mechanism of the echo formation by kick-induced filamentation of phase space, and provide the first experimental demonstration of classical alignment echoes in a thermal gas of CO_2 molecules excited by a pair of femtosecond laser pulses.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1502.00019,
title = {Orientation and Alignment Echoes},
author = {G. Karras and E. Hertz and F. Billard and B. Lavorel and J. -M. Hartmann and O. Faucher and E. Gershnabel and Y. Prior and I. Sh. Averbukh},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1502.00019},
year = {2017}
}