The Journal of Chemical Physics

Separation of a benzene and nitric oxide mixture by a molecule prism

Bum Suk Zhao, Sung Hyup Lee, Hoi Sung Chung, Sungu Hwang, Wee Kyung Kang, Břetislav Friedrich, Doo Soo Chung

Published Oct 24, 2003• 38 citations

Abstract

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.

DOI: 10.1063/1.1613934

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