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Updated: Jul 25, 2025

Direct Imaging of Laser-driven Ultrafast Molecular Rotation
Published on: February 4, 2017
Dynamics of molecular rotors in bulk superfluid helium
Alexander A Milner1, V A Apkarian2, Valery Milner1
1Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
Abstract:
Molecules immersed in liquid helium are excellent probes of superfluidity. Their electronic, vibrational, and rotational dynamics provide valuable clues about the superfluid at the nanoscale. Here we report on the experimental study of the laser-induced rotation of helium dimers inside the superfluid 4He bath at variable temperature. The coherent rotational dynamics of [Formula: see text] is initiated in a controlled way by ultrashort laser pulses and tracked by means of time-resolved laser-induced fluorescence. We detect the decay of rotational coherence on the nanosecond time scale and investigate the effects of temperature on the decoherence rate. The observed temperature dependence suggests a nonequilibrium evolution of the quantum bath, accompanied by the emission of the wave of second sound. The method offers ways of studying superfluidity with molecular nanoprobes under variable thermodynamic conditions.
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