Selective excitation of the molecular rotational wave packet by two time-delayed laser pulses

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate the control of the molecular wave packet of a linear molecule by two femtosecond laser pulses. It is shown that the odd and the even rotational wave packets created by a single laser pulse can be selectively excited by accurately controlling the time delay of another laser pulse. By inserting the peak of the second laser pulse at the position of maximum or minimum value around quarter or three quarter rotational period of the slope curve with odd (or even) rotational wave packet contribution that is created by the first laser pulse, the odd rotational wave packet can be enhanced (or suppressed) while the even rotational wave packet is suppressed (or enhanced). As a result, the molecular alignments around quarter and three quarter rotational periods can be obtained. Moreover, it is also shown that by inserting the second laser pulse around the quarter or three quarter rotational periods, the changes in the maximum degree of the molecular alignment for the odd and the even rotational wave packet contributions are consistent with their corresponding slope curves at these positions.