Issue 38, 2016

Induction of unidirectional π-electron rotations in low-symmetry aromatic ring molecules using two linearly polarized stationary lasers

Abstract

A new laser-control scenario of unidirectional π-electron rotations in a low-symmetry aromatic ring molecule having no degenerate excited states is proposed. This scenario is based on dynamic Stark shifts of two relevant excited states using two linearly polarized stationary lasers. Each laser is set to selectively interact with one of the two electronic states, the lower and higher excited states are shifted up and down with the same rate, respectively, and the two excited states become degenerate at their midpoint. One of the four control parameters of the two lasers, i.e. two frequencies and two intensities, determines the values of all the other parameters. The direction of π-electron rotations, clockwise or counter-clockwise rotation, depends on the sign of the relative phase of the two lasers at the initial time. An analytical expression for the time-dependent expectation value of the rotational angular momentum operator is derived using the rotating wave approximation (RWA). The control scenario depends on the initial condition of the electronic states. The control scenario with the ground state as the initial condition was applied to toluene molecules. The derived time-dependent angular momentum consists of a train of unidirectional angular momentum pulses. The validity of the RWA was checked by numerically solving the time-dependent Schrödinger equation. The simulation results suggest an experimental realization of the induction of unidirectional π-electron rotations in low-symmetry aromatic ring molecules without using any intricate quantum-optimal control procedure. This may open up an effective generation method of ring currents and current-induced magnetic fields in biomolecules such as amino acids having aromatic ring molecules for searching their interactions.

Graphical abstract: Induction of unidirectional π-electron rotations in low-symmetry aromatic ring molecules using two linearly polarized stationary lasers

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
17 Jun 2016
Accepted
01 Sep 2016
First published
01 Sep 2016

Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2016,18, 26786-26795

Induction of unidirectional π-electron rotations in low-symmetry aromatic ring molecules using two linearly polarized stationary lasers

H. Mineo, M. Yamaki, G. Kim, Y. Teranishi, S. H. Lin and Y. Fujimura, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2016, 18, 26786 DOI: 10.1039/C6CP04254F

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements