All-optical field-free three-dimensional orientation of asymmetric-top molecules.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 30510201.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-018-07567-2 and PMC identifier 6277449.
- 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
Orientation and alignment of molecules by ultrashort laser pulses is crucial for a variety of applications and has long been of interest in physics and chemistry, with the special emphasis on stereodynamics in chemical reactions and molecular orbitals imaging. As compared to the laser-induced molecular alignment, which has been extensively studied and demonstrated, achieving molecular orientation is a much more challenging task, especially in the case of asymmetric-top molecules. Here, we report the experimental demonstration of all-optical field-free three-dimensional orientation of asymmetric-top molecules by means of phase-locked cross-polarized two-color laser pulse. This approach is based on nonlinear optical mixing process caused by the off-diagonal elements of the molecular hyperpolarizability tensor. It is demonstrated on SO<sub>2</sub> molecules and is applicable to a variety of complex nonlinear molecules.