{"id":4,"date":"2019-08-30T08:47:04","date_gmt":"2019-08-30T12:47:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/molecularoptics\/?page_id=4"},"modified":"2026-04-07T15:47:56","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T19:47:56","slug":"4-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/molecularoptics\/","title":{"rendered":"Introduction"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Coherence phenomena<\/strong> in laser-atom interactions have been a focus of interest for decades. However, due to the small size of typical molecular transition moments, the field of coherence effects in laser-molecule<\/em> interactions is closer to its infancy. In addition, unlike atoms, even the simplest molecules are open systems, in that every excited molecular ro-vibrational level is radiatively coupled to many more energy levels than in the case of any excited atomic state. Therefore, molecules – with their rich excitation pathways and the variety of molecular interactions – make attractive candidates in the development of novel and powerful applications in this field. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

By utilizing narrowband, continuous wave (CW<\/em>) lasers and appropriately filtered laser induced fluorescence (LIF), we have benefitted from the high resolution techniques of multiple resonance laser spectroscopy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prof. Marjatta Lyyra co-pioneered continuous wave triple resonance spectroscopy<\/strong> with initial applications in high resolution molecular spectroscopy of electronic states involving large internuclear distance in collaboration with Profs. William C. Stwalley and Paul D. Kleiber at the University of Iowa. At Temple University, her research group has used this technique in molecular quantum optics studies by using the Autler-Townes (AT) effect<\/strong> to  demonstrate molecular Electromagnetically Induced Transparency (EIT)<\/strong> and more recently with Prof. Ergin H. Ahmed all-optical control of molecular angular momentum orientation<\/strong> by state selective population of individual magnetic sublevels.  We have also shown that the Autler-Townes effect can be used as a precision probe of the molecular transition dipole moment and its internuclear distance dependence. And we’ve more recently demonstrated all-optical control of molecular population flow through a pair of singlet-triplet levels perturbed by the spin-orbit interaction<\/strong>. Research on optimizing this process by the development of an all-optical spin switch is planned. <\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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News<\/a> (recent):<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

03\/30\/2026<\/em>: our group hosts NAS member\u00a0Dr. Paul S. Julienne<\/a>\u00a0for a colloquium talk on \u201cThe unity of physics: The beauty and power of spectroscopy<\/em>\u201d.\u00a0More<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

03\/27\/2026<\/em>: Dr. Jacob T. Stahovich<\/a> successfully defended his dissertation entitled \u201cAll-Optical Quantum Control of Angular Momentum Orientation and High-Resolution Spectroscopy of Alkali Dimers<\/em>\u201c. Congratulations Dr. Stahovich! Photo<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

10\/21\/2025<\/em>: Dr. Brendan A. Rowe<\/a> successfully defended his dissertation entitled \u201cMolecular Spectroscopy and Quantum Control of Homonuclear Alkali Dimers<\/em>\u201c. Congratulations Dr. Rowe! Photo<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

10\/01-10\/31\/2025<\/em>: our group hosts Dr. Gita Revalde<\/a>, lead researcher at the Institute of Atomic Physics and Spectroscopy, University of Latvia and her postdoc Anda Abola<\/a> for the QDYNAMO project. Group photos<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

09\/22-23\/2025<\/em>: our group hosts Prof. Dr. Yu Liu<\/a> and two of his graduate students, Jingchen Zhang and Jiarui (\u201cJerry\u201d) Yu, from the University of Maryland to discuss Li2 molecules<\/a> in the context of quantum controlled isotope exchange reaction chemistry<\/a> and to potentially establish a long-term collaboration. Group photo<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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News (recent): 03\/30\/2026: our group hosts NAS member\u00a0Dr. Paul S. Julienne\u00a0for a colloquium talk on \u201cThe unity of physics: The beauty and power of spectroscopy\u201d.\u00a0More. 03\/27\/2026: Dr. Jacob T. Stahovich successfully defended his dissertation entitled \u201cAll-Optical Quantum Control of Angular Momentum Orientation and High-Resolution Spectroscopy of Alkali Dimers\u201c. Congratulations Dr. Stahovich! Photo. 10\/21\/2025: Dr. Brendan A. Rowe successfully defended his … Continue reading Introduction<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28395,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-4","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/molecularoptics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/molecularoptics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/molecularoptics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/molecularoptics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28395"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/molecularoptics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4"}],"version-history":[{"count":33,"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/molecularoptics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1397,"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/molecularoptics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4\/revisions\/1397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/molecularoptics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}