In recent years, laser control of electrons in molecular system and condensed matter has attracted considerable attention with rapid progress in laser science and technology [. In particular, control of π-electron rotation in photo-induced chiral aromatic molecules has potential utility to the next-generation ultrafast switching devices. In this paper, we present a fundamental principle of generation of ultrafast coherent ring currents and the control in photo-induced aromatic molecules. This is based on quantum dynamics simulations of π-electron rotations and preparation of unidirectional angular momentum by ultrashort UV laser pulses properly designed. For this purpose, we adopt 2,5-dichloro [(3,6) pyrazinophane (DCPH) fixed on a surface, which is a real chiral aromatic molecule with plane chirality. Here π electrons can be rotated along the aromatic ring clockwise or counterclockwise by irradiation of a linearly polarized laser pulse with the properly designed photon polarization direction and the coherent ring current with the definite direction along the aromatic ring is prepared. This is contrast to ordinary ring current in an achiral aromatic ring molecule with degenerate electronic excited state, which is prepared by a circularly polarized laser [2]. In this case, π electrons rotate along the Z-axis of the laboratory coordinates, while for the present case electrons rotate along the z-axis in molecular Cartesian coordinates. It should be noted that signals originated from the coherent ring currents prepared by linearly polarized ultrashort UV lasers are specific to the chiral molecule of interest.
Quantum Control of Coherent π-Electron Dynamics in Aromatic Ring Molecules
