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arXiv:2303.05090 · Physical Review A

Nonlinear dynamics of molecular superrotors

C. Chandré, J. Pablo Salas

Published Jun 8, 2023• 2 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We consider a diatomic molecule driven by a linearly polarized laser pulse with a polarization axis rotating with a constant acceleration. This setup is referred to as optical centrifuge, and it is known to lead to high-angular momenta for the molecule (superrotor states) and, possibly, to dissociation. Here we elucidate the dynamical mechanisms behind the creation of superrotor states and their dissociation. We unravel the role of the various parameters of the laser field in these processes by considering reduced Hamiltonian models encapsulating the different phases in the creation of superrotor states, possibly leading to dissociation.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.107.063105

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We consider a diatomic molecule driven by a linearly polarized laser pulse with a polarization axis rotating with a constant acceleration. This setup is referred to as optical centrifuge, and it is known to lead to high-angular momenta for the molecule (superrotor states) and, possibly, to dissociation. Here we elucidate the dynamical mechanisms behind the creation of superrotor states and their dissociation. We unravel the role of the various parameters of the laser field in these processes by considering reduced Hamiltonian models encapsulating the different phases in the creation of superrotor states, possibly leading to dissociation.
Abstract We excite diatomic oxygen and nitrogen to high rotational states with an optical centrifuge and study their dynamics in an external magnetic field. Ion imaging is employed to directly visualize, and follow in time, the rotation plane of the molecular superrotors. The two different mechanisms of interaction between the magnetic field and the molecular angular momentum in paramagnetic oxygen and non-magnetic nitrogen lead to qualitatively different behaviour. In nitrogen, we observe the precession of the molecular angular momentum around the field vector. In oxygen, strong spin–rotation coupling results in faster and richer dynamics, encompassing the splitting of the rotation plane into three separate components. As the centrifuged molecules evolve with no significant dispersion of the molecular wave function, the observed magnetic interaction presents an efficient mechanism for controlling the plane of molecular rotation.
The control of ultrafast molecular rotational motion has benefited from the development of innovative techniques in strong-field laser physics. Here, we theoretically demonstrate a novel type of coherent control by inducing rotation of an asymmetric-top molecule about two different molecular axes. An optical centrifuge is applied to the hydrogen sulfide (H 2 S) molecule to create a molecular superrotor, an object performing ultrafast rotation about a well-defined axis. Using two distinct pulse envelopes for the optical centrifuge, we show that H 2 S can be excited along separate pathways of rotational states. This leads to stable rotation about two entirely different molecular axes while ensuring rotation is about the propagation direction of the centrifuge, i.e., the laboratory-fixed Z -axis. The presented scheme to control the angular momentum alignment of a molecule will, for instance, be useful in studies of molecule–molecule or molecule–surface scattering, especially due to the large amounts of energy associated with superrotors, which can even be controlled by changing the duration of the optical centrifuge pulse.
We report a theoretical study of the optical centrifuge acceleration of an asymmetric top molecule interacting with an electric static field by solving the time-dependent Schr\"odinger equation in the rigid rotor approximation. A detailed analysis of the mixing of the angular momentum in both the molecular and the laboratory fixed frames allows us to deepen the understanding of the main features of the acceleration process, for instance, the effective angular frequency of the molecule at the end of the pulse. For the case of the SO2{\mathrm{SO}}_{2}SO2​ molecular super-rotor, we show numerically that it rotates around one internal axis and that its dynamics is confined to the plane defined by the polarization axis of the laser, in agreement with experimental findings. Furthermore, we consider the orientation patterns induced by the dc field, showing the characteristics of their structure as a function of the strength of the static field and the initial configuration of the fields.
We investigate theoretically the ability of an optical centrifuge - a laser pulse whose linear polarization is rotating at an accelerated rate, to control molecular rotation in the regime when the rigid-rotor approximation breaks down due to coupling between the vibrational and rotational degrees of freedom. Our analysis demonstrates that the centrifuge field enables controlled excitation of high rotational states while maintaining relatively low spread along the vibrational coordinate. We contrast this to the rotational excitation by a linearly polarized Gaussian pulse of equal spectral width and pulse energy which, although comparable to the centrifuge-induced rotation, is unavoidably accompanied by a substantial broadening of the vibrational wavepacket.
Laser control of molecular rotation is an area of active research. A number of recent studies has aimed at expanding the reach of rotational control to extreme, previously inaccessible rotational states, as well as controlling the directionality of molecular rotation. Dense ensembles of molecules undergoing ultrafast uni-directional rotation, known as molecular superrotors, are anticipated to exhibit unique properties, from spatially anisotropic diffusion and vortex formation to the creation of powerful acoustic waves and tuneable THz radiation. Here we describe our recent progress in controlling molecular rotation in the regime of high rotational excitation. We review two experimental techniques of producing uni-directional rotational wave packets with a "chiral train" of femtosecond pulses and an "optical centrifuge". Three complementary detection methods, enabling the direct observation, characterization and control of the superrotor states, are outlined: the one based on coherent Raman scattering, and two other methods employing both resonant and non-resonant multi-photon ionization. The capabilities of the described excitation and detection techniques are demonstrated with a few examples. The paper is concluded with an outlook for future developments.
We investigate, both theoretically and experimentally, the mechanism behind the creation of a macroscopic magnetization in a gas of paramagnetic molecules with an optical centrifuge, reported in [Phys. Rev. Lett. 118, 243201 (2017)]. Our analysis shows that the centrifuged super-rotors and noncentrifuged molecules are polarized in opposite directions, while the net magnetic moment of the whole ensemble at the end of the interaction with the laser pulse remains close to zero. As the super-rotors are more stable against reorienting collisions, their spin polarization, which points along the centrifuge axis, decays more slowly than the oppositely oriented polarization of the noncentrifuged molecules. The latter lose their directional rotation much more quickly and with it the polarization of their electronic spin. We show numerically that owing to this difference in decay rates, a net magnetization in the direction of the centrifuge is generated. The proposed model is supported by experimental data.