Nonadiabatic Laser-Induced Alignment Dynamics of Molecules on a Surface

Abstract

We demonstrate that a sodium dimer, Na${}_2$($1^3{\Sigma }_u^{+}$), residing on the surface of a helium nanodroplet, can be set into rotation by a nonresonant 1.0 ps infrared laser pulse. The time-dependent degree of alignment measured, exhibits a periodic, gradually decreasing structure that deviates qualitatively from that expected for gas phase dimers. Comparison to alignment dynamics calculated from the time-dependent rotational Schrödinger equation shows that the deviation is due to the alignment dependent interaction between the dimer and the droplet surface. This interaction confines the dimer to the tangential plane of the droplet surface at the point where it resides and is the reason that the observed alignment dynamics is also well-described by a 2D quantum rotor model.

arXiv comment6 pages, 4 figures

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Cited by in corpus (4)

• Nonadiabatic Laser-Induced Alignment Dynamics of Molecules on a Surface
• Time-resolved Coulomb explosion imaging of vibrational wave packets in alkali dimers on helium nanodroplets
• Magnetic deflection of high-spin sodium dimers formed on helium nanodroplets
• Quantum rotor in a two-dimensional mesoscopic Bose gas