Strong laser alignment of solvent-solute aggregates in the gas-phase

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates strong laser alignment of indole-water clusters in the gas phase, visualized via ion and electron imaging, showing high alignment precision through molecular-frame photoelectron distributions.

Contribution

It reports the first experimental realization of quasi-adiabatic laser alignment of solvent-solute clusters in the gas phase with detailed visualization methods.

Findings

Achieved high degree of molecular alignment with $ extless \cos^2 heta_{2D} extgreater \, extgreater 0.9

Visualized alignment through ion and electron imaging techniques

Observed suppression of electron yield in the polarization plane

Abstract

Strong quasi-adiabatic laser alignment of the indole-water-dimer clusters, an amino-acid chromophore bound to a single water molecule through a hydrogen bond, was experimentally realized. The alignment was visualized through ion and electron imaging following strong-field ionization. Molecular-frame photoelectron angular distributions showed a clear suppression of electron yield in the plane of the ionizing laser's polarization, which was analyzed as strong alignment of the molecular cluster with $\left< \cos^2\theta_{2D} \right> \ge$ 0.9.