Related papers: Two-state wave packet for strong field-free molecu…
Supersonic beams of polar molecules are deflected using inhomogeneous electric fields. The quantum-state selectivity of the deflection is used to spatially separate molecules according to their quantum state. A detailed analysis of the…
We consider solid surface scattering of molecules that were subject to strong non-resonant ultrashort laser pulses just before hitting the surface. The pulses modify the rotational states of the molecules, causing their field free…
We present a theoretical study of the mixed-field orientation of molecules without rotational symmetry. The time-dependent one-dimensional and three-dimensional orientation of a thermal ensemble of 6-chloropyridazine-3-carbonitrile…
We show that a laser pulse designed as an adiabatic ramp followed by a kick allows one to reach a perfect postpulse molecular alignment, free of saturation. The mechanism is based on an optimized distribution of the energy between a weakly…
We present a theoretical study of the mixed-field-orientation of asymmetric top molecules in tilted static electric field and non-resonant linearly polarized laser pulse by solving the time-dependent Schr\"odinger equation. Within this…
We discuss the production of ultracold molecules in their electronic ground state by photoassociation employing electronically excited states with ion-pair character and strong spin-orbit interaction. A short photoassociation laser pulse…
Intense single-cycle THz pulses resonantly interacting with molecular rotations are shown to induce significant field-free orientation under ambient conditions. We calculate and measure the angular distribution associated with THz-driven…
We present a theoretical study of recent laser-alignment and mixed-field-orientation experiments of asymmetric top molecules. In these experiments, pendular states were created using linearly polarized strong ac electric fields from pulsed…
We investigate the prospects of creating broad rotational wave packets by means of molecular interaction with long sequences of intense femtosecond pulses. Using state-resolved rotational Raman spectroscopy of oxygen, subject to a sequence…
A theoretical study of the rotational dynamics of a linear polar molecule in a two-color non-resonant cw laser field is presented. By systematically considering the interactions of this field with the electric dipole moment, polarizability…
We report experiments on field-free molecular alignment performed at FLASH, the free electron laser (FEL) in Hamburg. The impulsive alignment induced by a 100 fs near-infrared laser pulse in a rotationally cold CO_2 sample is characterized…
We present a combined experimental and theoretical study on strong-field ionization of a three-dimensionally oriented asymmetric top molecule, benzonitrile (C$_7$H$_5$N), by circularly polarized, nonresonant femtosecond laser pulses. Prior…
We present a strategy for post-pulse orientation aiming both at efficiency and maximal duration within a rotational period. We first identify the optimally oriented states which fulfill both requirements. We show that a sequence of…
The rich information content of measurements in the molecular frame rather than the laboratory frame has motivated the development of several methods for aligning gas phase molecules in space. Even so, for asymmetric tops the problem of…
We demonstrate and analyze a strongly driven quantum pendulum in the angular motion of stateselected and laser aligned OCS molecules. Raman-couplings during the rising edge of a 50-picosecond laser pulse create a wave packet of pendular…
A moderately intense $450$ fs laser pulse is used to create rotational wave packets in gas phase $\rm{I_2}$ molecules. The ensuing time-dependent alignment, measured by Coulomb explosion imaging with a delayed probe pulse, exhibits the…
We study hollow plasma channels with smooth boundaries for laser-driven electron acceleration in the bubble regime. Contrary to the uniform plasma case, the laser forms no optical shock and no etching at the front. This increases the…
We demonstrate a novel experimental implementation to strongly align molecules at full repetition rates of free-electron lasers. We utilized the available in-house laser system at the coherent x-ray imaging beamline at the Linac Coherent…
Photoelectron momentum distributions from strong-field ionization of carbonyl sulfide with 800 nm central-wavelength laser pulses at various peak intensities from $4.6$ to $13\times10^{13}$ W/cm$^2$ were recorded and analyzed regarding…
The decay of field-free rotational dynamics is experimentally studied in two complementary methods: laser-induced molecular alignment and terahertz-field-induced molecular orientation. Comparison between the decay rates of different…