Strongly aligned and oriented molecular samples at a kHz repetition rate

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the generation and control of strongly aligned and oriented molecular samples at kHz repetition rates, enabling ultrafast molecular dynamics studies with high temporal resolution.

Contribution

It introduces a novel experimental setup capable of producing, controlling, and analyzing cold, aligned molecules at kHz rates, suitable for ultrafast molecular imaging.

Findings

Achieved cosb0b0b0=0.94 alignment at 1 kHz

Produced cold molecular beams at 1 K with high state selectivity

Demonstrated real-time image analysis for molecular dynamics

Abstract

We demonstrate strong adiabatic laser alignment and mixed-field orientation at kHz repetition rates. We observe degrees of alignment as large as cos\Theta=0.94 at 1 kHz operation for iodobenzene. The experimental setup consist of a kHz laser system simultaneously producing pulses of 30 fs (1.3 mJ) and 450 ps (9 mJ). A cold 1 K state-selected molecular beam is produced at the same rate by appropriate operation of an Even-Lavie valve. Quantum state selection has been obtained using an electrostatic deflector. A camera and data acquisition system records and analyzes the images on a single-shot basis. The system is capable of producing, controlling (translation and rotation) and analyzing cold molecular beams at kHz repetition rates and is, therefore, ideally suited for the recording of ultrafast dynamics in so-called "molecular movies".