2015/04/13 by Johannes Floß, Floß, Johannes
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Physics and Astronomy · #Astro and Planetary Science #Atomic Physics (physics.atom-ph) #Chemical Physics (physics.chem-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences #Photosynthetic Processes and Mechanisms #Spectroscopy and Quantum Chemical Studies #physics.atom-ph #physics.chem-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1504.03278
13 pages, 7 figures. Includes a short movie of the angular distribution in the ancillary files
openalex publication_date 2015/04/13 · arxiv created 2015/04/20 · arxiv updated 2015/04/21 · openalex created_date 2022/10/01 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We present a detailed theoretical study of oxygen molecules in high rotational states (molecular superrotors) interacting with an external magnetic field. The system shows rich dynamics, ranging from a spin-selective splitting of the angular distribution over molecular alignment to an inversion of the rotational direction. We find that the observed magneto-rotational effects are due to a spin-mediated precession of the orbital angular momentum around the magnetic field. Analytical expressions for the precession frequency in the limits of weak and strong magnetic fields are derived and used to support the proposed mechanism. In addition, we provide the procedure for a numerical treatment of oxygen superrotors in an external magnetic field.