Nikolay V. Vitanov

Efficient adiabatic population transfer by two-photon excitation assisted by a laser-induced Stark shift

We demonstrate and analyze a novel scheme for complete transfer of atomic or molecular population between two bound states, by means of Stark-chirped rapid adiabatic passage (SCRAP). In this two-laser technique a delayed-pulse laser-induced Stark shift sweeps the transition frequency between two coupled states twice through resonance with the frequency of the population-transferring coupling laser. The delay of the Stark-shifting pulse with respect to the pulse of the coupling-laser Rabi frequency guarantees adiabatic passage of population at one of the two resonances while the evolution is diabatic at the other. The SCRAP method can give a population-transfer efficiency approaching unity. We discuss the general requirements on the intensity and timing of the pulses that produce the Rabi frequency and, independently, the Stark shift. We particularly stress extension to a double-SCRAP technique, a coherent variant of stimulated emission pumping in the limit of strong saturation. We demonstrate the success ...

Perspective: Stimulated Raman adiabatic passage: The status after 25 years

The first presentation of the STIRAP (stimulated Raman adiabatic passage) technique with proper theoretical foundation and convincing experimental data appeared 25 years ago, in the May 1st, 1990 issue of The Journal of Chemical Physics. By now, the STIRAP concept has been successfully applied in many different fields of physics, chemistry, and beyond. In this article, we comment briefly on the initial motivation of the work, namely, the study of reaction dynamics of vibrationally excited small molecules, and how this initial idea led to the documented success. We proceed by providing a brief discussion of the physics of STIRAP and how the method was developed over the years, before discussing a few examples from the amazingly wide range of applications which STIRAP now enjoys, with the aim to stimulate further use of the concept. Finally, we mention some promising future directions.

Coherent strong-field control of multiple states by a single chirped femtosecond laser pulse

We present a joint experimental and theoretical study on strong- field photo-ionization of sodium atoms using chirped femtosecond laser pulses. By tuning the chirp parameter, selectivity among the population in the highly excited states 5p, 6p, 7p and 5f, 6f is achieved. Different excitation pathways enabling control are identified by simultaneous ionization and measurement of photoelectron angular distributions employing the velocity map imaging technique. Free electron wave packets at an energy of around 1eV are observed. These photoelectrons originate from two channels. The predominant 2+1+1 resonance enhanced multi-photon ionization (REMPI) proceeds via the strongly driven two-photon transition 4s 3s, and subsequent ionization from the states 5p, 6p and 7p whereas the second pathway involves 3+1 REMPI via the states 5f and 6f. In addition, electron wave packets from two-photon ionization of the non-resonant transiently populated state 3p are observed close to the ionization threshold. A mainly qualitative five-state model for the predominant excitation channel is studied theoretically to provide insights into the physical mechanisms at play. Our analysis shows that by tuning the chirp parameter the dynamics is effectively controlled by dynamic Stark shifts and level crossings. In particular, we show that under the experimental conditions the passage through

Power broadening revisited : theory and experiment

The spectral width of an atomic absorption line, observed with a steady light source, typically increases as the light intensity increases, an effect known as power broadening. In this paper, we point out classes of pulsed-light observations where power broadening does not always occur. We present analytical and numerical results, supported by experimental data of coherent pulsed excitation probed by photoionization, which show that the extent of power broadening depends crucially upon the nature of excitation and the type of measurement. In particular, we show that a spectral line obtained from measurement performed after pulsed excitation exhibits no power broadening. For pulsed excitation and continuous measurement, the spectral line contains two components: a power-broadened signal collected during the excitation and an unbroadened signal collected after the excitation.

Creation of coherent superpositions using Stark-chirped rapid adiabatic passage

We show that the technique of Stark-chirped rapid adiabatic passage (SCRAP), hitherto used for complete population transfer between two quantum states, offers a simple and robust method for creating coherent superpositions of states. SCRAP uses two laser pulses: a strong far off-resonant pulse modifies the transition frequency by inducing ac Stark shifts in the energies of the two states, and an appropriately offset in time, near-resonant and moderately strong pump pulse drives the population between the states via one of the induced diabatic level crossings. The populations in the created superposition are controlled by the detuning of the pump laser from the transition frequency and are insensitive to variations in the intensities of the pump and Stark lasers, as long as these are sufficiently large to allow adiabatic evolution.

Coherent pulsed excitation of degenerate multistate systems: Exact analytic solutions

We show that the solution of a multistate system composed of

Wireless adiabatic power transfer

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Lineshapes in coherent two-photon excitation

degenerate lower (ground) states and one upper (excited) state can be reduced by using the Morris-Shore transformation to the solution of a two-state system involving only the excited state and a (bright) superposition of ground states. In addition, there are

Spontaneous emission of a two-level atom placed within clusters of metallic nanoparticles

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Composite Stimulated Raman Adiabatic Passage

dark states composed of ground states. We use this decomposition to derive analytical solutions for degenerate extensions of the most popular exactly soluble models: the resonance solution, the Rabi, Landau-Zener, Rosen-Zener, Allen-Eberly, and Demkov-Kunike models. We suggest various applications of the multistate solutions, for example, as tools for creating multistate coherent superpositions by generalized resonant