Postpulse molecular alignment measured by a weak field polarization technique.
We report a direct nonintrusive observation of alignment and planar delocalization of CO2 after an intense linearly polarized femtosecond laser pulse excitation. The effects are measured by a polarization technique involving a perturbative probe that itself does not induce appreciable alignment. We show that this technique allows one to measure a signal proportional to <cos((2)theta>-1/3, with theta the angle between the molecular axis and the laser polarization. Simulations that support this analysis allow one to characterize the experimentally observed alignment and planar delocalization quantitatively.
Laboratoire de Physique, Université de Bourgogne, UMR CNRS 5027, BP 47870, 21078 Dijon Cedex, France.
V
V
Renard
M
M
Renard
S
S
Guérin
Y T
YT
Pashayan
B
B
Lavorel
O
O
Faucher
H R
HR
Jauslin