Vinod Kumarappan
Assistant Professor
Address:	328 Cardwell Hall
Phone:	(785) 532-3415
E-mail:	vinod@phys.ksu.edu
Group Webpage
Ph.D. Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, India, 2002
M.S.  Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, India, 1996
B.S. Government Victoria College, Palakkad, India, 1994

Research Area

My research program remains largely unchanged from last year – I plan to develop methods for aligning and orienting molecules using intense laser pulses. This is an increasing important component of ultrafast AMO physics. By using shaped laser pulses and a cold (~ 1 K) gas target, we will explore alignment dynamics of asymmetric top molecules, especially with the goal of producing field-free 3D alignment and orientation. Once we have learned to align the molecules well enough, we will extend our experiments to measuring angle resolved molecular dynamics in intense ultrashort laser fields.  

Recent Selected Publications

• “Multiphoton electron angular distributions from laser-aligned CS₂ molecules,” V. Kumarappan, L. Holmegaard, C. Martiny, C. B. Madsen, T. K. Kjeldsen, S. S. Viftrup, L. B. Madsen, and H. Stapelfeldt, Phys. Rev. Lett. 100, 093006 (2008).
• "Holding and spinning molecules in space," S. S. Viftrup, V. Kumarappan, S. Trippel, H. Stapelfeldt, E. Hamilton, and T. Seideman, Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 143602 (2007).
• "Controlling the rotational revival structure of asymmetric tops,"  L. Holmegaard, S. S. Viftrup, V. Kumarappan, C. Z. Bisgaard, H. Stapelfeldt, E. Hamilton, and T. Seideman, Phys. Rev. A 75, 051403 (2007).
• "Role of rotational temperature in adiabatic molecular alignment," V. Kumarappan, C. Z. Bisgaard, S. S. Viftrup, L. Holmegaard, and H. Stapelfeldt, J. Chem. Phys. 125, 194309 (2006).