Controlling rotational dynamics and alignment of molecule by infrared laser pulse

We investigate the effects of delayed infrared laser (IRL) pulse shape on the non-adiabatic rotational excitation and alignment of a polar molecule. We suggest a control scheme for choosing populations of molecular rotational states by wave packet interference. The rotational wave packets of polar molecule (here HBr) excited non-adiabatically by orienting pulse is controlled actually using the second delayed IRL pulse. By adjusting the time delay between the two laser pulses and the shape of delayed IRL pulse, constructive or destructive interference among these wave packets enables the population to be enhanced or repressed for the specific rotational state. We have used fourth order Runge–Kutta method to study the non-adiabatic rotational excitation (NAREX) dynamics.

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► Non-adiabatic rotational excitation and alignment of a polar molecule is studied in presence of pulses with different shapes.
► Pulse shape varies from square to sin-squared.
► Both rotational excitation and alignment show strong dependence on shape of the pulses.