Field-free alignment in repetitively kicked nitrogen gas

Journal Article · Tue Dec 15 00:00:00 EST 2009 · Physical Review. A

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVA.80.063412· OSTI ID:21352379

Cryan, James P ^[1]; Bucksbaum, Philip H ^[1]; Coffee, Ryan N ^[1]

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1. PULSE Institute for Ultrafast Energy Science, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, 2575 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, California 94025 (United States)

We demonstrate a high level of laser-induced transient alignment in room temperature and density N{sub 2} with a technique that avoids laser field ionization. Our measured alignment shows an improvement over previous one-pulse or two-pulse experimental alignment results and approaches the theoretical maximum value. We employ eight equally spaced ultrafast laser pulses with a separation that takes advantage of the periodic revivals for the ensemble of quantum rotors. Each successive pulse increases the transient alignment [<cos{sup 2} theta>(t)] and also moves the rotational population away from thermal equilibrium. These measurements are combined with simulations to determine the value of <cos{sup 2} theta>, the J-state distributions, and the functional dependencies of the alignment features.

• OSTI ID: 21352379
• Journal Information: Physical Review. A, Vol. 80, Issue 6; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.80.063412; (c) 2009 The American Physical Society; ISSN 1050-2947
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS
ALIGNMENT
DENSITY
DISTRIBUTION
IONIZATION
LASER RADIATION
LASERS
MOLECULAR STRUCTURE
MULTI-PHOTON PROCESSES
NATURAL GAS FIELDS
NITROGEN
PERIODICITY
PHOTON-MOLECULE COLLISIONS
PULSES
ROTATIONAL STATES
SIMULATION
TEMPERATURE RANGE 0273-0400 K
THERMAL EQUILIBRIUM
COLLISIONS
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
ELEMENTS
ENERGY LEVELS
EQUILIBRIUM
EXCITED STATES
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
MINERAL RESOURCES
MOLECULE COLLISIONS
NATURAL GAS DEPOSITS
NONMETALS
PHOTON COLLISIONS
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
RADIATIONS
RESOURCES
TEMPERATURE RANGE
VARIATIONS