3 research outputs found
Rotational master equation for cold laser-driven molecules
The equations of motion for the molecular rotation are derived for
vibrationally cold dimers that are polarized by off-resonant laser light. It is
shown that, by eliminating electronic and vibrational degrees of freedom, a
quantum master equation for the reduced rotational density operator can be
obtained. The coherent rotational dynamics is caused by stimulated Raman
transitions, whereas spontaneous Raman transitions lead to decoherence in the
motion of the quantized angular momentum. As an example the molecular dynamics
for the optical Kerr effect is chosen, revealing decoherence and heating of the
molecular rotation.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.