Home >

news Help

Publication Information


Title
Japanese: 
English:Direct Imaging of Laser-driven Ultrafast Molecular Rotation 
Author
Japanese: 水瀬 賢太, 藤本 路夢, 水谷 伸雄, 大島 康裕.  
English: Kenta Mizuse, Romu Fujimoto, Nobuo Mizutani, Yasuhiro Ohshima.  
Language English 
Journal/Book name
Japanese: 
English:Journal of Visualized Experiments 
Volume, Number, Page     120    e54917
Published date Feb. 2017 
Publisher
Japanese: 
English: 
Conference name
Japanese: 
English: 
Conference site
Japanese: 
English: 
Official URL http://www.jove.com/video/54917/direct-imaging-of-laser-driven-ultrafast-molecular-rotation
 
DOI https://doi.org/10.3791/54917
Abstract We present a method for visualizing laser-induced, ultrafast molecular rotational wave packet dynamics. We have developed a new 2- dimensional Coulomb explosion imaging setup in which a hitherto-impractical camera angle is realized. In our imaging technique, diatomic molecules are irradiated with a circularly polarized strong laser pulse. The ejected atomic ions are accelerated perpendicularly to the laser propagation. The ions lying in the laser polarization plane are selected through the use of a mechanical slit and imaged with a high-throughput, 2-dimensional detector installed parallel to the polarization plane. Because a circularly polarized (isotropic) Coulomb exploding pulse is used, the observed angular distribution of the ejected ions directly corresponds to the squared rotational wave function at the time of the pulse irradiation. To create a real-time movie of molecular rotation, the present imaging technique is combined with a femtosecond pump-probe optical setup in which the pump pulses create unidirectionally rotating molecular ensembles. Due to the high image throughput of our detection system, the pump-probe experimental condition can be easily optimized by monitoring a real-time snapshot. As a result, the quality of the observed movie is sufficiently high for visualizing the detailed wave nature of motion. We also note that the present technique can be implemented in existing standard ion imaging setups, offering a new camera angle or viewpoint for the molecular systems without the need for extensive modification.

©2007 Tokyo Institute of Technology All rights reserved.