Laser-induced molecular alignment in the presence of chaotic rotational dynamics

Coherent control of chaotic molecular systems, using laser-assisted alignment of sulphur dioxide (SO₂) molecules in the presence of a static electric field as an example, is considered. Conditions for which the classical version of this system is chaotic are established, and the quantum and classical analogs are shown to be in very good correspondence. It is found that the chaos present in the classical system does not impede the alignment, neither in the classical nor in the quantum system. Using the results of numerical calculations, we suggest that laser-assisted alignment is stable against rotational chaos for all asymmetric top molecules.