Adiabatic field-free alignment of asymmetric top molecules with an optical centrifuge

Abstract

We use an optical centrifuge to align asymmetric top $\mathrm{S}{\mathrm{O}}_2$ molecules by adiabatically spinning their most polarizable O-O axis. The effective centrifugal potential in the rotating frame confines sulfur atoms to the plane of the laser-induced rotation, leading to the planar molecular alignment which persists after the molecules are released from the centrifuge. Periodic appearance of the full three-dimensional alignment, typically observed only with linear and symmetric top molecules, is also detected. Together with strong in-plane centrifugal forces, which bend the molecules by up to 10 degrees, permanent field-free alignment offers new ways of controlling molecules with laser light.

References in corpus (1)

• Alignment of asymmetric-top molecules using multiple-pulse trains

Cited by in corpus (11)

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• Orientation and Alignment Dynamics of Polar Molecule Driven by Shaped Laser Pulses
• Simulating electric field interactions with polar molecules using spectroscopic databases
• Theoretical study of asymmetric superrotors: alignment and orientation
• Controlling rotation in the molecular-frame with an optical centrifuge
• Laser-induced molecular alignment in the presence of chaotic rotational dynamics
• Nonlinear dynamics of molecular superrotors
• Imaging the Breakdown of Molecular-Frame Dynamics through Rotational Uncoupling