Molecular Angular Momentum Orientation Using Dressed States Created by Laser Radiation

We have produced state selective molecular angular momentum orientation using dressed states created by a cw optical field. The experiment was carried out with Li_{2} molecules and a combination of left- and right-hand circularly polarized lasers. Our approach exploits the dependence of the Rabi frequency on the quantum number M, which makes it possible to achieve complete M-state selectivity and thus molecular angular momentum orientation relative to laboratory frame space-fixed axes. Using molecules in a ^{1}Σ state, orientation of the rotational angular momentum, R[over →], can be achieved by spectrally resolving the Autler-Townes split M components of the total angular momentum, J[over →].