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.
Renard
V
V
Laboratoire de Physique, Université de Bourgogne, UMR CNRS 5027, BP 47870, 21078 Dijon Cedex, France.
Renard
M
M
Guérin
S
S
Pashayan
Y T
YT
Lavorel
B
B
Faucher
O
O
Jauslin
H R
HR