Observing Molecular Spinning via the Rotational Doppler Effect

Abstract

When circularly polarized light is scattered from a rotating target, a rotational Doppler shift (RDS) emerges from an exchange of angular momentum between the spinning object and the electromagnetic field. Here, we used coherently spinning molecules to generate a shift of the frequency of a circularly polarized probe propagating through a gaseous sample. We used a linearly polarized laser pulse to align the molecules, followed by a second delayed pulse polarized at 45° to achieve unidirectional molecular rotation. The measured RDS is orders of magnitude greater than previously observed by other methods. This experiment provides explicit evidence of unidirectional molecular rotation and paves the way for a new class of measurements in which the rotational direction of molecular reagents may be monitored or actively controlled.

Submitted also to Nature Photonics, current status: "under consideration"

References in corpus (4)

• Vectorial Control of Magnetization by Light
• Control of molecular rotation with a chiral train of ultrashort pulses
• Directional spinning of molecules with sequences of femtosecond pulses
• Molecular spinning by a chiral train of short laser pulses

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• Optomechanics based on angular momentum exchange between light and matter
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• Universal method for the synthesis of arbitrary polarization states radiated by a nanoantenna
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• Coherent spin-rotational dynamics of oxygen super rotors
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• Optical imaging of coherent molecular rotors
• Circular Dichroism in Rotating Particles
• Control of quantum localization and classical diffusion in laser-kicked molecular rotors
• Observation of mechanical Faraday effect in gas media
• Giant Polarization Drag in a Gas of Molecular Superrotors
• Rotation of polarization of light propagating through a gas of molecular super-rotors
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• Shaping of the time-evolution of field-free molecular orientation by THz laser pulses
• Doppler effect as a tool for ultrashort electric field reconstruction
• Coupled Micro-Doppler Signatures of Closely Located Targets
• 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
• Rotational Doppler cooling and heating
• State- and molecule-selective rotational control in gas mixtures with a shaped optical centrifuge
• Enhanced Detection of Rotational Doppler Shift from Sunlight
• Memory Effects in Scattering from Accelerating Bodies
• Extraordinary Spin specific beam shift of Light in an Inhomogeneous Anisotropic medium