New Adventures of a Kicked Rotor:
From Molecular Alignment to Atom Optics
Department of Chemical Physics, The Weizmann Institute of Science,
Driven rotor is a standard model in classical and quantum nonlinear dynamics studies. An increasing interest to the problem is promoted by recent atom optics realization of the quantum delta-kicked rotor, and novel experiments on molecular alignment (orientation) by strong laser fields. We found generic phenomena in the evolution of a quantum rotor driven by a strong time-varying field, which are similar to the caustics formation and rainbow-type scattering in optics and quantum mechanics. Based on this, we propose an excitation strategy which leads to the accumulating angular squeezing, and allows achieving enhanced molecular alignment using short laser pulses of a moderate intensity. After being created, the squeezed angular state periodically regenerates itself via the quantum revival effect, and can be used in various experiments under field-free conditions. The predicted coherent effects may show themselves in many other physical situations ranging from Coulomb collisions of non-spherical nuclei, to trapping of cold atoms by a standing light wave and atom lithography applications.