Skip to main content

Research Repository

Advanced Search

Accessing the molecular frame through strong-field alignment of distributions of gas phase molecules

Reid, Katharine L.

Accessing the molecular frame through strong-field alignment of distributions of gas phase molecules Thumbnail


Authors



Abstract

A rationale for creating highly aligned distributions of molecules is that it enables vector properties referenced to molecule-fixed axes (the molecular frame) to be determined. In the present work, the degree of alignment that is necessary in order for this to be achieved in practice is explored. Alignment is commonly parametrised in experiments by a single parameter, <cos²Θ>, which is insufficient to enable predictive calculations to be performed. Here it is shown that, if the full distribution of molecular axes takes a Gaussian form, this single parameter can be used to determine the complete set of alignment moments needed to characterise the distribution. In order to demonstrate the degree of alignment that is required in order to approach the molecular frame, the set of alignment moments corresponding to a few chosen values of <cos²Θ> are used to project a model molecular frame photoelectron angular distribution into the laboratory frame. These calculations show that <cos²Θ> needs to approach 0.9 in order to avoid significant blurring to be caused by averaging.

Citation

Reid, K. L. (2018). Accessing the molecular frame through strong-field alignment of distributions of gas phase molecules. Philosophical Transactions A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 376(2115), https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2017.0158

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Oct 25, 2017
Online Publication Date Feb 5, 2018
Publication Date Mar 13, 2018
Deposit Date Oct 30, 2017
Publicly Available Date Feb 5, 2018
Journal Philosophical Transactions A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences
Print ISSN 1364-503X
Electronic ISSN 1471-2962
Publisher The Royal Society
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 376
Issue 2115
DOI https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2017.0158
Public URL https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/920022
Publisher URL http://rsta.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/376/2115/20170158
Contract Date Oct 30, 2017

Files





You might also like



Downloadable Citations