Orientation and Alignment Echoes

We present what is probably the simplest classical system featuring the echo phenomenon - a collection of randomly oriented free rotors with dispersed rotational velocities. Following excitation by a pair of time-delayed impulsive kicks, the mean orientation/alignment of the ensemble exhibits multiple echoes and fractional echoes. We elucidate the mechanism of the echo formation by kick-induced filamentation of phase space, and provide the first experimental demonstration of classical alignment echoes in a thermal gas of CO_2 molecules excited by a pair of femtosecond laser pulses.