Strong Optical Dipole Force Exerted on Molecules Having Low Rotational Temperature

The optical dipole force acting on molecules is enhanced by decreasing the rotational temperature of the molecule and aligning the molecular axis with a linearly polarized nonresonant laser beam. The rotational temperature is decreased by increasing the source pressure from 2 to 81bar. By using the effective polarizability directly pertaining to the optical dipole force, the force and the resulting change in the velocity of the molecules can be evaluated. Theoretical calculations are compared with measurements based on velocity map imaging techniques. If the rotational temperature is reduced from 295 to 1K, the maximum alignment is increased from <cos(2)>=0.33 to 0.92, and the average optical force is enhanced by 74%.