Aligning molecules with long or short laser pulses

Abstract

We briefly review recent experimental developments of laser induced alignment of molecules with pulses that are either long (adiabatic) or short (nonadiabatic) compared to the molecular rotational periods. The main focus is on one-dimensional (1D) alignment obtained with linearly polarized laser pulses. Both linear and asymmetric top molecules are used to illustrate the alignment methods. Three-dimensional (3D) alignment, where all three molecular axes of a rigid asymmetric top molecule are orientationally confined, is also discussed.