Optimal Laser Control of Orientation: The Kicked Molecule
C. M. Dion1,2, A. Ben Haj-Yedder2, E. Cancès2, C. Le Bris2, A. Keller1, and Osman Atabek1
1Laboratoire de Photophysique Moléculaire du CNRS,
Bâtiment 213, Campus d'Orsay, 91405 Orsay, France
2CERMICS, École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées,
6 & 8 av. Blaise Pascal, Cité Descartes, Champs-sur-Marne, 77455
Marne-la-Vallée, France
Using an optimal control scheme, based on genetic algorithms, to tailor a laser pulse, we find that molecular orientation can be achieved during and after the radiative interaction. The mechanism, which appears to be one of the possible ways leading to orientation, is based upon a kick imparted to the molecule by a sudden (with respect to molecular rotational motion), asymmetric laser pulse. We show how such pulses resulting from optimization can actually be produced experimentally and how the laser control of orientation could further be improved.
This article has been published in The Physical Review A 65, 063408 (2002) and may be found at http://publish.aps.org/abstract/PRA/v65/e063408.
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