A combined experimental and theoretical study on realizing and using laser controlled torsion of molecules

C B Madsen; L B Madsen; S S Viftrup; M P Johansson; T B Poulsen; L Holmegaard; V Kumarappan; K A Jørgensen; H Stapelfeldt

doi:10.1063/1.3149789

A combined experimental and theoretical study on realizing and using laser controlled torsion of molecules

J Chem Phys. 2009 Jun 21;130(23):234310. doi: 10.1063/1.3149789.

Authors

C B Madsen¹, L B Madsen, S S Viftrup, M P Johansson, T B Poulsen, L Holmegaard, V Kumarappan, K A Jørgensen, H Stapelfeldt

Affiliation

¹ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Lundbeck Foundation Theoretical Center for Quantum System Research, Aarhus University, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark.

PMID: 19548730
DOI: 10.1063/1.3149789

Abstract

It is demonstrated that strong laser pulses can introduce torsional motion in the axially chiral molecule 3,5-difluoro-3('),5(')-dibromobiphenyl. A nanosecond laser pulse spatially aligns the stereogenic carbon-carbon (C-C) bond axis allowing a perpendicularly polarized, intense femtosecond pulse to initiate torsional motion accompanied by a rotation about the fixed axis. We monitor the induced motion by femtosecond time-resolved Coulomb explosion imaging. Our theoretical analysis corroborates the experimental findings and on the basis of these results we discuss future applications of laser-induced torsion, viz., time-resolved studies of deracemization and laser controlled molecular junctions based on molecules with torsion.