POLARIZATION OF MOLECULES INDUCED BY INTENSE NONRESONANT LASER FIELDS

The anisotropic interaction of the electric field vector of intense la ser radiation with the dipole moment induced in a polarizable molecule by the laser field creates aligned pendular states. These are directi onal superpositions of field-free states, governed by a cos(2) theta p otential (with theta the angle between the molecular axis and the fiel d vector). We show that the spatial alignment and other eigenpropertie s can be derived from spheroidal wave functions, give explicit express ions for low- and high-field limits, contrast the induced pendular sta tes with those for permanent dipoles subject to static fields, and pre sent calculations demonstrating the utility of the induced states for rotational spectroscopy, laser alignment, and spatial trapping of mole cules.