Coherent rotational states their formation and detection

In this paper, we describe molecules and nuclei, with energy spectrum close to that of an ideal rotor, and therefore capable of being pushed into a coherent rotational state. The formation of a coherent rotational state is obtained by means of a strong electromagnetic pulse. In the case of a molecule, resort is made to a laser pulse, while for a nucleus use is made of the Coulomb excitation in a heavy ion collision. The latter is a thought experiment in that the ''coherence'' period obtained in the evolution of typical observables is out of reach of experimental detection. For the molecular case, the experiment is feasible and has been done. (author). 32 refs, 13 figs, 5 tabs