Dynamics and Hydrodynamics of Molecular Superrotors

作者：Steinitz Uri; Khodorkovsky Yuri; Hartmann Jean Michel; Averbukh Ilya Sh

来源：ChemPhysChem, 2016, 17(22): 3795-3810.

DOI：10.1002/cphc.201600508

• computational chemistry
• laser chemistry
• molecular dynamics
• superrotors

In recent years, several femtosecond laser techniques have been developed that can make gas molecules rotate extremely fast, whereas the gas stays translationally cold. Herein we use molecular-dynamics simulations to investigate the collisional dynamics of gases of such molecules (superrotors). We found that the common route of superrotors to equilibrium is rather generic. It starts with a long-lasting gyroscopic stage, during which the molecules keep their fast rotation and the orientation of their angular momentum despite the many collisions they undergo. The inhibited rotational relaxation is characterized by a persistent anisotropy in the molecular angular distribution, manifested in long-lasting optical birefringence and in anisotropic diffusion of the gas. Later, the gyroscopic stage is abruptly terminated by a self-accelerating explosive rotational-translational energy exchange that generates sound and macroscopic vortices with a hot rotating core.

• 出版日期2016-11