State-dependent dispersion of molecules by pulsed optical standing waves

Abstract

We report the state-dependent transverse acceleration of CS2 molecules with pulsed optical standing waves. The steep gradient of the standing wave potential imparts far stronger optical dipole forces on the molecules than propagating pulses. The wild velocity changes due to the standing waves of various intensities are well reproduced in numerical simulations using the effective polarizability depending on the molecular rotational states. The analysis based on the state-dependent effective polarizability can be a cornerstone of developing a new technique of state selection for both polar and nonpolar molecules.