Physical Chemistry Seminar

Date
Wed, Sep 13, 2017 11:00 am - 12:00 pm
Location
Chemistry 0112 (Marker Seminar Room)

Description

Speaker: Professor Amy Mullin, UMCP

Title: Dynamics of Molecular Super Rotors Made in an Optical Centrifuge

Abstract: Sophisticated optical techniques offer promising tools for controlling a molecule's energy and orientation, which in turn can be used to understand fundamentals of chemical behavior and reactivity. We have used an optical centrifuge to prepare molecules in very high rotational states with oriented angular momentum. High resolution transient IR absorption spectroscopy is used to study the dynamics of the super rotors. A new multipass IR detection configuration has enabled polarization-dependent studies of the orientational anisotropy dynamics of the high-J molecules. The mechanisms for super rotor collisions are revealed through spatially-dependent Doppler profiles of individual J states. Implications for classical/quantum pictures emerge from studies of molecules in high quantum states.