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Karamatskos ET, Raabe S, Mullins T, Trabattoni A, Stammer P, Goldsztejn G, Johansen RR, Długołecki K, Stapelfeldt H, Vrakking MJJ, Trippel S, Rouzée A, Küpper J. Molecular movie of ultrafast coherent rotational dynamics of OCS. Nat Commun 2019; 10:3364. [PMID: 31358749 PMCID: PMC6662765 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-11122-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/16/2018] [Accepted: 06/25/2019] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Recording molecular movies on ultrafast timescales has been a longstanding goal for unravelling detailed information about molecular dynamics. Here we present the direct experimental recording of very-high-resolution and -fidelity molecular movies over more than one-and-a-half periods of the laser-induced rotational dynamics of carbonylsulfide (OCS) molecules. Utilising the combination of single quantum-state selection and an optimised two-pulse sequence to create a tailored rotational wavepacket, an unprecedented degree of field-free alignment, 〈cos2θ2D〉 = 0.96 (〈cos2θ〉 = 0.94) is achieved, exceeding the theoretical limit for single-pulse alignment. The very rich experimentally observed quantum dynamics is fully recovered by the angular probability distribution obtained from solutions of the time-dependent Schrödinger equation with parameters refined against the experiment. The populations and phases of rotational states in the retrieved time-dependent three-dimensional wavepacket rationalises the observed very high degree of alignment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Evangelos T Karamatskos
- Center for Free-Electron Laser Science, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, Notkestraße 85, 22607, Hamburg, Germany
- Department of Physics, Universität Hamburg, Luruper Chaussee 149, 22761, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Sebastian Raabe
- Max Born Institute, Max-Born-Straße 2a, 12489, Berlin, Germany
| | - Terry Mullins
- Center for Free-Electron Laser Science, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, Notkestraße 85, 22607, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Andrea Trabattoni
- Center for Free-Electron Laser Science, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, Notkestraße 85, 22607, Hamburg, Germany
- Department of Physics, Universität Hamburg, Luruper Chaussee 149, 22761, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Philipp Stammer
- Max Born Institute, Max-Born-Straße 2a, 12489, Berlin, Germany
| | | | - Rasmus R Johansen
- Department of Chemistry, Aarhus University, Langelandsgade 140, 8000, Aarhus C, Denmark
| | - Karol Długołecki
- Center for Free-Electron Laser Science, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, Notkestraße 85, 22607, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Henrik Stapelfeldt
- Department of Chemistry, Aarhus University, Langelandsgade 140, 8000, Aarhus C, Denmark
| | | | - Sebastian Trippel
- Center for Free-Electron Laser Science, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, Notkestraße 85, 22607, Hamburg, Germany
- The Hamburg Center for Ultrafast Imaging, Universität Hamburg, Luruper Chaussee 149, 22761, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Arnaud Rouzée
- Max Born Institute, Max-Born-Straße 2a, 12489, Berlin, Germany.
| | - Jochen Küpper
- Center for Free-Electron Laser Science, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, Notkestraße 85, 22607, Hamburg, Germany.
- Department of Physics, Universität Hamburg, Luruper Chaussee 149, 22761, Hamburg, Germany.
- The Hamburg Center for Ultrafast Imaging, Universität Hamburg, Luruper Chaussee 149, 22761, Hamburg, Germany.
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