skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Quantum state specific reactant preparation in a molecular beam by rapid adiabatic passage

Journal Article · · Journal of Chemical Physics
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4861054· OSTI ID:22255250
; ; ; ;  [1]
  1. Laboratoire de Chimie Physique Moléculaire, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne (Switzerland)

Highly efficient preparation of molecules in a specific rovibrationally excited state for gas/surface reactivity measurements is achieved in a molecular beam using tunable infrared (IR) radiation from a single mode continuous wave optical parametric oscillator (cw-OPO). We demonstrate that with appropriate focusing of the IR radiation, molecules in the molecular beam crossing the fixed frequency IR field experience a Doppler tuning that can be adjusted to achieve complete population inversion of a two-level system by rapid adiabatic passage (RAP). A room temperature pyroelectric detector is used to monitor the excited fraction in the molecular beam and the population inversion is detected and quantified using IR bleaching by a second IR-OPO. The second OPO is also used for complete population transfer to an overtone or combination vibration via double resonance excitation using two spatially separated RAP processes.

OSTI ID:
22255250
Journal Information:
Journal of Chemical Physics, Vol. 140, Issue 3; Other Information: (c) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0021-9606
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English