Abstract
We demonstrate and analyze a strongly driven quantum pendulum in the angular motion of state-selected and laser-aligned carbonyl sulfide molecules. Raman couplings during the rising edge of a 50-ps laser pulse create a wave packet of pendular states, which propagates in the confining potential formed by the polarizability interaction between the molecule and the laser field. This wave-packet dynamics manifests itself as pronounced oscillations in the degree of alignment with a laser-intensity-dependent period.
- Received 27 January 2014
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.89.051401
©2014 American Physical Society
