Laser-induced alignment and orientation of quantum-state-selected large molecules

Abstract

A strong inhomogeneous static electric field is used to spatially disperse a supersonic beam of polar molecules, according to their quantum state. We show that the molecules residing in the lowest-lying rotational states can be selected and used as targets for further experiments. As an illustration, we demonstrate an unprecedented degree of laser-induced 1D alignment $(<{\cos }^2{\theta }_{2D}>=0.97)$ and strong orientation of state-selected iodobenzene molecules. This method should enable experiments on pure samples of polar molecules in their rotational ground state, offering new opportunities in molecular science.

References in corpus (2)

• A selector for structural isomers of neutral molecules
• Alternating gradient focusing and deceleration of large molecules

Cited by in corpus (3)

• Field-free orientation of CO molecules by femtosecond two-color laser fields
• Quantum-state selection, alignment, and orientation of large molecules using static electric and laser fields
• Manipulating the motion of large neutral molecules