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Updated: May 27, 2026

Spatial Separation of Molecular Conformers and Clusters
Published on: January 9, 2014
Stern-Gerlach deflection of field-free aligned paramagnetic molecules
E Gershnabel1, M Shapiro, I Sh Averbukh
1Department of Chemical Physics, The Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel.
Abstract:
The effects of laser-induced pre-alignment on the deflection of paramagnetic molecules by inhomogeneous static magnetic field are studied. Depending on the relevant Hund's coupling case of the molecule, two different effects were identified: either suppression of the deflection by laser pulses (Hund's coupling case (a) molecules, such as ClO), or a dramatic reconstruction of the broad distribution of the scattering angles into several narrow peaks (for Hund's coupling case (b) molecules, such as O(2) or NH). These findings are important for various applications using molecular guiding, focusing and trapping with the help of magnetic fields.
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