Control of molecular rotation with a chiral train of ultrashort pulses

Abstract

Trains of ultrashort laser pulses separated by the time of rotational revival (typically, tens of picoseconds) have been exploited for creating ensembles of aligned molecules. In this work we introduce a chiral pulse train - a sequence of linearly polarized pulses with the polarization direction rotating from pulse to pulse by a controllable angle. The chirality of such a train, expressed through the period and direction of its polarization rotation, is used as a new control parameter for achieving selectivity and directionality of laser-induced rotational excitation. The method employs chiral trains with a large number of pulses separated on the time scale much shorter than the rotational revival (a few hundred femtosecond), enabling the use of conventional pulse shapers.

5 pages, 5 figures

References in corpus (2)

• Laser-induced alignment and orientation of quantum-state-selected large molecules
• Field-free two-direction alignment alternation of linear molecules by elliptic laser pulses

Cited by in corpus (34)

• Quantum control of molecular rotation
• Manipulation of Molecules with Electromagnetic Fields
• Observing Molecular Spinning via the Rotational Doppler Effect
• Controlled enantioselective orientation of chiral molecules with an optical centrifuge
• Selective Orientation of Chiral Molecules by Laser Fields with Twisted Polarization
• Quantum Control of Molecular Gas Hydrodynamics
• Field-free molecular orientation by THz laser pulses at high temperature
• Visualizing molecular unidirectional rotation
• Laser Induced Gas Vortices
• Orienting Asymmetric Molecules by Laser Fields with Skewed Polarization
• Observation of persistent orientation of chiral molecules by laser field with twisted polarization
• Optics of a Gas of Coherently Spinning Molecules
• Directional spinning of molecules with sequences of femtosecond pulses
• Enantioselective Orientation of Chiral Molecules Induced by Terahertz Pulses with Twisted Polarization
• Laser induced persistent orientation of chiral molecules
• Molecular spinning by a chiral train of short laser pulses
• Observation of nondispersing classical-like molecular rotation
• Optical imaging of coherent molecular rotors
• Capture into resonance and phase space dynamics in optical centrifuge
• Giant Polarization Drag in a Gas of Molecular Superrotors
• Echoes in Unidirectionally Rotating Molecules
• Rotation of polarization of light propagating through a gas of molecular super-rotors
• Laser control of molecular rotation: Expanding the utility of an optical centrifuge
• Coherent Control of the Rotation Axis of Molecular Superrotors
• Generating long sequences of high-intensity femtosecond pulses
• Comparative study of monotonically convergent optimization algorithms for the control of molecular rotation
• Controlling the degree of rotational directionality in laser-induced molecular dynamics
• Enantioselective chiral orientation induced by a combination of a long and a short laser pulse
• Unified parameter for localization in isotope-selective rotational excitation of diatomic molecules using a train of optical pulses
• Controlling rotation in the molecular-frame with an optical centrifuge
• Laser-induced molecular alignment in the presence of chaotic rotational dynamics
• Optimal Selective Orientation of Chiral Molecules Using Femtosecond Laser Pulses
• Complete control, direct observation and study of molecular super rotors
• Quantum dynamics of a polar rotor acted upon by an electric rectangular pulse of variable duration