Abstract
We consider the rotational excitation of molecules induced by asymmetric (“half-cycle”) as well as symmetric single-cycle THz pulses, leading to field-free time-dependent orientation. We show that the basic excitation mechanisms are very similar for the two types of pulses; i.e., the frequency distributions of the pulses at the rotational resonance frequencies play an important role. Furthermore, we investigate the interference between multiple rotational excitation pathways following prealignment with a nonresonant 800-nm femtosecond pulse. It is shown that such interference can lead to an enhancement of the orientation of the linear HCN molecule by a factor close to 2.
Original language | English |
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Journal | Physical Review A |
Volume | 87 |
Issue number | 1 |
Pages (from-to) | Paper 013408 |
Number of pages | 6 |
ISSN | 2469-9926 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2013 |