In the present paper we explore the prospects for laser control of the photoinduced nonadiabatic dynamics of para- and ortho-fulvene with the help of quantum dynamical simulations. Previous investigations [Bearpark et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 118, 5253 (1996); Alfalah et al., J. Chem. Phys. 130, 124318 (2009)] show that photoisomerization of fulvene is hindered by ultrafast radiationless decay through a conical intersection at planar configuration. Here, we demonstrate that photoisomerization can nevertheless be initiated by damping unfavorable nuclear vibrations with properly designed laser pulses. Moreover, we show that the resulting intramolecular torsion is nuclear spin selective. The selectivity of the photoexcitation with respect to the nuclear spin isomers can be further enhanced by applying an optimized sequence of two laser pulses.
We explore the possibility of controlling rotational-torsional dynamics of non-rigid molecules with strong, non-resonant laser pulses and demonstrate that transient, laser-induced torsional alignment depends on the nuclear spin of the molecule. Consequently, nuclear spin isomers can be manipulated selectively by a sequence of time-delayed laser pulses. We show that two pulses with different polarization directions can induce either overall rotation or internal torsion, depending on the nuclear spin. Nuclear spin selective control of the angular momentum distribution may open new ways to separate and explore nuclear spin isomers of polyatomic molecules.
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