Related papers: State- and molecule-selective rotational control i…
We investigate theoretically the ability of an optical centrifuge - a laser pulse whose linear polarization is rotating at an accelerated rate, to control molecular rotation in the regime when the rigid-rotor approximation breaks down due…
Since its invention in 1999, optical centrifuge has become a powerful tool for controlling molecular rotation and studying molecular dynamics and molecular properties at extreme levels of rotational excitation. The technique has been…
The control of ultrafast molecular rotational motion has benefited from the development of innovative techniques in strong-field laser physics. Here, we theoretically demonstrate a novel type of coherent control by inducing rotation of an…
We demonstrate experimentally a method of varying the degree of directionality in laser-induced molecular rotation. To control the ratio between the number of clockwise and counter-clockwise rotating molecules (with respect to a fixed…
Laser control of molecular rotation is an area of active research. A number of recent studies has aimed at expanding the reach of rotational control to extreme, previously inaccessible rotational states, as well as controlling the…
We computationally demonstrate a new method for coherently controlling the rotation-axis direction in asymmetric top molecules with an optical centrifuge. Appropriately chosen electric-field strengths and the centrifuge's acceleration rate…
We introduce a new scheme for controlling the sense of molecular rotation. By varying the polarization and the delay between two ultrashort laser pulses, we induce unidirectional molecular rotation, thereby forcing the molecules to rotate…
We present an analysis of two experimental approaches to controlling the directionality of molecular rotation with ultrashort laser pulses. The two methods are based on the molecular interaction with either a pair of pulses (a "double kick"…
We consider optical properties of a gas of molecules that are brought to fast unidirectional spinning by a pulsed laser field. It is shown that a circularly polarized probe light passing through the medium inverts its polarization…
We propose and computationally study a method for simultaneously orienting the angular momentum of asymmetric top molecules along: 1) a laboratory-fixed direction; 2) the molecular intermediate moment of inertia axis; 3) the laser field…
Extremely fast rotating molecules carrying significantly more energy in their rotation than in any other degree of freedom are known as "super rotors". It has been speculated that super rotors may exhibit a number of unique properties.…
An optical centrifuge is a laser pulse which enables controlled rotational excitation of molecules. Centrifuged molecules rotating with well-defined angular frequencies are ideal candidates to probe many-body quantum systems at the…
We report on the first experimental demonstration of enantioselective rotational control of chiral molecules with a laser field. In our experiments, two enantiomers of propylene oxide are brought to accelerated unidirectional rotation by…
Strong laser-induced magnetization of oxygen gas at room temperature and atmospheric pressure is achieved experimentally on the sub-nanosecond time scale. The method is based on controlling the electronic spin of paramagnetic molecules by…
Following excitation by a strong ultra-short laser pulse, molecules develop coordinated rotational motion, exhibiting transient alignment along the direction of the laser electric field, followed by periodic full and fractional revivals…
We introduce a new optical tool - a "two-dimensional optical centrifuge", capable of aligning molecules in extreme rotational states. Unlike the conventional centrifuge, which confines the molecules in the plane of their rotation, its…
We outline the design and characterization of a laser pulse shaper, which creates an ``ultraslow optical centrifuge'' - a linearly polarized field whose polarization vector rotates with arbitrarily low angular acceleration. By directly…
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…
We demonstrate a new spectroscopic method for studying electronic transitions in molecules with extremely broad range of angular momentum. We employ an optical centrifuge to create narrow rotational wave packets in the ground electronic…
Laser cooling of molecules employing broadband optical pumping involves a timescale separation between laser excitation and spontaneous emission. Here, we optimize the optical pumping step using shaped laser pulses. We derive two…