Single-shot, space- and time-resolved measurement of rotational wavepacket revivals in H2, D2, N2, O2, and N2O

Femtosecond laser-induced alignment and periodic recurrences in hydrogen and deuterium are measured in a single shot for the first time, in a room temperature gas cell. Single-shot Supercontinuum Spectral Interferometry (SSSI) is employed, with measurements also performed in room temperature samples of nitrogen, oxygen, and nitrous oxide. Unlike previous optical techniques for probing molecular alignment in gases or liquids, SSSI quantitatively and directly measures the degree of molecular alignment without reliance on model fits, and it can do so with spatial resolution transverse to the pump beam. In addition, wavepacket collisional dephasing rates can be directly measured in gas samples at useful densities. (C) 2007 Optical Society of America.