Rotational spectroscopy with an optical centrifuge
Abstract
We demonstrate a new spectroscopic method for studying electronic transitions in molecules with extremely broad range of angular momentum. We employ an optical centrifuge to create narrow rotational wave packets in the ground electronic state of 16O2. Using the technique of resonance-enhanced multi-photon ionization, we record the spectrum of multiple ro-vibrational transitions between X3Σg− and C3Πg electronic manifolds of oxygen. Direct control of rotational excitation, extending to rotational quantum numbers as high as N ≳ 120, enables us to interpret the complex structure of rotational spectra of C3Πg beyond thermally accessible levels.