TY - JOUR
T1 - Rotational angular momentum polarization
T2 - The influence of stray magnetic fields
AU - Marinakis, Sarantos
AU - Paterson, Grant
AU - Richmond, Graham
AU - Rockingham, Michael
AU - Costen, Matthew L.
AU - McKendrick, Kenneth G.
PY - 2008
Y1 - 2008
N2 - We show that weak residual magnetic fields can significantly affect the preparation and measurement of molecular rotational angular momentum alignment in a typical gas-phase stereodynamics apparatus. Specifically, polarization spectroscopy, a third-order nonlinear spectroscopic technique, is used to prepare and probe the collisional and noncollisional losses of rotational angular momentum alignment of OH X ?2. Residual magnetic fields of the order of the geomagnetic field are shown to have a significant effect on the prepared polarization on a submicrosecond timescale. This can be expected to be a significant effect for many gas-phase free radicals, such as those of interest in combustion, atmospheric chemistry, and the burgeoning field of cold molecules. We demonstrate a simple experimental remedy for this problem. © 2008 American Institute of Physics.
AB - We show that weak residual magnetic fields can significantly affect the preparation and measurement of molecular rotational angular momentum alignment in a typical gas-phase stereodynamics apparatus. Specifically, polarization spectroscopy, a third-order nonlinear spectroscopic technique, is used to prepare and probe the collisional and noncollisional losses of rotational angular momentum alignment of OH X ?2. Residual magnetic fields of the order of the geomagnetic field are shown to have a significant effect on the prepared polarization on a submicrosecond timescale. This can be expected to be a significant effect for many gas-phase free radicals, such as those of interest in combustion, atmospheric chemistry, and the burgeoning field of cold molecules. We demonstrate a simple experimental remedy for this problem. © 2008 American Institute of Physics.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=38349074404&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1063/1.2829111
DO - 10.1063/1.2829111
M3 - Article
C2 - 18205434
SN - 0021-9606
VL - 128
JO - The Journal of Chemical Physics
JF - The Journal of Chemical Physics
IS - 2
M1 - 021101
ER -