Stopping molecular rotation using coherent ultra-low-energy magnetic manipulations

Helen Chadwick (), Mark F. Somers, Aisling C. Stewart, Yosef Alkoby, Thomas J. D. Carter, Dagmar Butkovicova and Gil Alexandrowicz ()
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Helen Chadwick: Swansea University
Mark F. Somers: Leiden University
Aisling C. Stewart: Swansea University
Yosef Alkoby: Swansea University
Thomas J. D. Carter: Swansea University
Dagmar Butkovicova: Swansea University
Gil Alexandrowicz: Swansea University

Nature Communications, 2022, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-7

Abstract: Abstract Rotational motion lies at the heart of intermolecular, molecule-surface chemistry and cold molecule science, motivating the development of methods to excite and de-excite rotations. Existing schemes involve perturbing the molecules with photons or electrons which supply or remove energy comparable to the rotational level spacing. Here, we study the possibility of de-exciting the molecular rotation of a D2 molecule, from J = 2 to the non-rotating J = 0 state, without using an energy-matched perturbation. We show that passing the beam through a 1 m long magnetic field, which splits the rotational projection states by only 10−12 eV, can change the probability that a molecule-surface collision will stop a molecule from rotating and lose rotational energy which is 9 orders larger than that of the magnetic manipulation. Calculations confirm that different rotational orientations have different de-excitation probabilities but underestimate rotational flips (∆mJ $$\ne$$ ≠ 0), highlighting the importance of the results as a sensitive benchmark for further developing theoretical models of molecule-surface interactions.

Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-29830-3

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