A general method for controlling and resolving rotational orientation of molecules in molecule-surface collisions.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 28480890.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/ncomms15357 and PMC identifier 5424257.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
The outcome of molecule-surface collisions can be modified by pre-aligning the molecule; however, experiments accomplishing this are rare because of the difficulty of preparing molecules in aligned quantum states. Here we present a general solution to this problem based on magnetic manipulation of the rotational magnetic moment of the incident molecule. We apply the technique to the scattering of H<sub>2</sub> from flat and stepped copper surfaces. We demonstrate control of the molecule's initial quantum state, allowing a direct comparison of differences in the stereodynamic scattering from the two surfaces. Our results show that a stepped surface exhibits a much larger dependence of the corrugation of the interaction on the alignment of the molecule than the low-index surface. We also demonstrate an extension of the technique that transforms the set-up into an interferometer, which is sensitive to molecular quantum states both before and after the scattering event.