Quantum dynamics of a planar rotor driven by suddenly switched combined aligning and orienting interactions

TL;DR

This paper studies the quantum behavior of a 2D planar rotor under sudden switching of combined aligning and orienting interactions, revealing how spectral properties influence its dynamics and topological features.

Contribution

It analytically and numerically links the rotor's post-switch dynamics to the spectral and topological properties of the eigensurfaces, enabling experimental exploration and control.

Findings

Post-switch populations reflect eigensurface topology

Orientation and alignment expectations reveal spectral features

Topological properties can be exploited for rotor control

Abstract

We investigate, both analytically and numerically, the quantum dynamics of a planar (2D) rigid rotor subject to suddenly switched-on or switched-off concurrent orienting and aligning interactions. We find that the time-evolution of the post-switch populations as well as of the expectation values of orientation and alignment reflects the spectral properties and the eigensurface topology of the planar pendulum eigenproblem established in our earlier work [Frontiers in Physics 2, 37 (2014); Eur. Phys. J. D 71, 149 (2017)]. This finding opens the possibility to examine the topological properties of the eigensurfaces experimentally as well as provides the means to make use of these properties for controlling the rotor dynamics in the laboratory.