# Laser-induced molecular alignment in the presence of chaotic rotational dynamics

## TL;DR

This paper investigates how laser-induced molecular alignment behaves in chaotic rotational systems, demonstrating that alignment remains stable despite classical chaos, with good quantum-classical correspondence and implications for asymmetric top molecules.

## Contribution

It shows that laser-assisted molecular alignment is robust against chaos, providing a new understanding of control in chaotic molecular systems and extending the applicability to asymmetric top molecules.

## Key findings

- Classical chaos does not hinder molecular alignment.
- Quantum and classical models show good correspondence.
- Alignment stability is predicted for all asymmetric top molecules.

## Abstract

Coherent control of chaotic molecular systems, using laser-assisted alignment of sulphur dioxide (SO$_2$) molecules in the presence of a static electric field as an example, is considered. Conditions for which the classical version of this system is chaotic are established, and the quantum and classical analogs are shown to be in very good correspondence. It is found that the chaos present in the classical system does not impede the alignment, neither in the classical nor the quantum system. Using the results of numerical calculations, we suggest that laser-assisted alignment is stable against rotational chaos for all asymmetric top molecules.