title: Magneto-Optical Properties of Paramagnetic Superrotors.
abstract: We study the dynamics of paramagnetic molecular superrotors in an external magnetic field. An optical centrifuge is used to create dense ensembles of oxygen molecules in ultrahigh rotational states. In is shown, for the first time, that the gas of rotating molecules becomes optically birefringent in the presence of a magnetic field. The discovered effect of "magneto-rotational birefringence" indicates the preferential alignment of molecular axes along the field direction. We provide an intuitive qualitative model, in which the influence of the applied magnetic field on the molecular orientation is mediated by the spin-rotation coupling. This model is supported by the direct imaging of the distribution of molecular axes, the demonstration of the magnetic reversal of the rotational Raman signal, and by numerical calculations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver V6T 2K9, Canada.
authors.forename: A A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Milner
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver V6T 2K9, Canada.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Korobenko
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Physics, The Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Floß
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Physics, The Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel.
authors.forename: I Sh
authors.initials: ISh
authors.lastname: Averbukh
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver V6T 2K9, Canada.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Milner