Shaped Laser Pulses Acting as Adaptive "Reagents"

Herschel Rabitz, Department of Chemistry, Princeton University

Since the initial development of the laser some 40 years ago, a longstanding dream has been to utilize this special source of radiation to manipulate quantum dynamical events at the atomic and molecular scales. Hints that this goal may become a reality began to emerge in the 1990s, due to a confluence of concepts and technonlogies involving (a) control theory, (b) ultrafast laser sources, (c) laser pulse shaping techniques, and (d) fast pattern recognition algorithms. These concepts and tools have resulted in a high speed instrument configuration capable of adaptively changing the driving laser pulse shapes, approaching the performance of millions of independent experiments in a matter of minutes. Each particular shaped laser pulse acts much as a reagent would at the molecular scale. Although a tailored pulse has a fleeting existence, it can leave a permanent impact. Current demonstrations have ranged from manipulating simple systems (atoms) out to the highly complex (biomolecules). In all cases, the fundamental concept is one of adaptively manipulating quantum systems. The principles involved will be discussed, along with the presentation of the state of the field.

The P/T Colloquium is
typically held each
Thursday, 3:45–5:00 PM.
Refreshments are served
at 3:15 PM.