Two-State Wave Packet for Strong Field-Free Molecular Orientation

We demonstrate strong laser-field-free orientation of absolute-ground-state carbonyl sulfide molecules. The molecules are oriented by the combination of a 485-ps-long nonresonant laser pulse and a weak static electric field. The edges of the laser pulse create a coherent superposition of two rotational states resulting in revivals of strong transient molecular orientation after the laser pulse. The experimentally attained degree of orientation ⟨cos θ ⟩ ≈0.6 corresponds to the theoretical maximum for mixing of the two states. Switching off the dc field would provide the same orientation completely field free.