Molecules in Laser Fields

A. C. Brown, Gabriel G. Balint‐Kurti, OS Vasyutinskii

Man Mohan

Ye Li

Hang Lv, Junfeng Zhang, Wanlong Zuo +3 more

Rydberg state excitations of neutral nitric oxide molecules are studied in strong ultraviolet (UV) and near-infra-red (IR) laser fields using a linear time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectrometer with the pulsed electronic field ionization method. The yield of Rydberg molecules is measured as a function of laser intensity and ellipticity, and the results in UV laser fields are compared with those in near-IR laser fields. The present study provides the first experimental evidence of neutral Rydberg molecules surviving in a strong laser field. The results indicate that a rescattering-after-tunneling process is the main contribution to the formation of Rydberg molecules in strong near-IR laser fields, while multi-photon excitation may play an important role in the strong UV laser fields.

Bum Suk Zhao, Sung Hyup Lee, Hoi Sung Chung +4 more

In molecule optics, a matter wave of molecules is manipulated by a molecule-optical component made out of external, typically radiative, fields. The molecule-optical index of refraction, n, for a nonresonant IR laser pulse focused onto a molecular beam can be obtained from the energy conservation and wave properties of molecules. Experimentally measured values of n for benzene and nitric oxide agreed well with the calculated values. Since n depends on the properties of molecules as well as those of the laser field, a molecule prism composed of the focused nonresonant laser field can separate a multi-component molecular beam into several components according to their molecule-optical refractive indices n. We obtained a chromatographic resolution of 0.62 for the spatial separation of a mixture beam of benzene and nitric oxide using a focused Nd:YAG laser pulse as a molecule prism.

Břetislav Friedrich, Dudley R. Herschbach

The anisotropic interaction of the electric field vector of intense laser radiation with the dipole moment induced in a polarizable molecule by the laser field creates aligned pendular states. These are directional superpositions of field-free states, corresponding to oblate spheroidal wave functions, with eigenenergies that decrease with increasing field strength. We present calculations demonstrating the utility of these states for both laser alignment and spatial trapping of molecules.