Femtosecond rotational dynamics of D${}_2$ molecules in superfluid helium nanodroplets

Abstract

Rotational dynamics of D${}_2$ molecules inside helium nanodroplets is induced by a moderately intense femtosecond (fs) pump pulse and measured as a function of time by recording the yield of HeD${}^{+}$ ions, created through strong-field dissociative ionization with a delayed fs probe pulse. The yield oscillates with a period of 185 fs, reflecting field-free rotational wave packet dynamics, and the oscillation persists for more than 500 periods. Within the experimental uncertainty, the rotational constant BHe of the in-droplet D${}_2$ molecule, determined by Fourier analysis, is the same as Bgas for an isolated D${}_2$ molecule. Our observations show that the D${}_2$ molecules inside helium nanodroplets essentially rotate as free D${}_2$ molecules.

References in corpus (13)

• Quantum control of molecular rotation
• X-ray diffraction from isolated and strongly aligned gas-phase molecules with a free-electron laser
• New determination of structure parameters in strong field tunneling ionization theory of molecules
• Impulsive Laser Induced Alignment of Molecules Dissolved in Helium Nanodroplets
• Quasiparticle approach to molecules interacting with quantum solvents
• Laser-induced rotation of iodine molecules in He-nanodroplets: revivals and breaking-free
• Long-lasting field-free alignment of large molecules inside helium nanodroplets
• Strongly aligned molecules inside helium droplets in the near-adiabatic regime
• Rotational coherence spectroscopy of molecules in helium nanodroplets: Reconciling the time and the frequency domains
• Observing collisions beyond the secular approximation limit
• Hyperfine-Structure-Induced Depolarization of Impulsively Aligned ${\mathrm{I}}_2$ Molecules
• Excited rotational states of molecules in a superfluid
• The effect of nuclear-quadrupole coupling in the laser induced alignment of molecules

Cited by in corpus (2)

• Nonadiabatic Laser-Induced Alignment Dynamics of Molecules on a Surface
• Linear rotor in an ideal Bose gas near the threshold for binding