TY - JOUR
T1 - Production and probing of atomic wavepackets with ultrafast laser pulses
T2 - Applications to atomic and molecular dynamics
AU - Lu, Z. H.
AU - Zhu, C. J.
AU - Senin, A. A.
AU - Allen, J. R.
AU - Gao, J.
AU - Eden, J. G.
N1 - Funding Information:
Manuscript received June 30, 2003; revised October 20, 2003. This work was supported by the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research. The authors are with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801 USA (e-mail: [email protected]). Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/JSTQE.2004.824097
PY - 2004/1
Y1 - 2004/1
N2 - We demonstrate that atomic wavepackets can serve as sensitive detectors for investigating atomic and molecular dynamics. In concert with parametric four-wave mixing, the interference between coherent superpositions of atomic excited states produced by ultrafast (∼150 fs) pump and probe pulses provides a new and powerful tool with which fundamental processes, such as molecular dissociation and Rydberg-Rydberg atomic collisions, can be observed with the extraordinary sensitivity afforded by a coherent nonlinear optical process. Experiments are described in which the dissociation of an electronically excited molecule (Rb2) and the distribution of atomic fragments into excited states spanning > 10 000 cm-1 are observed. Also, resonant collisions between Rb atoms in the 7s and 5d states are detected by monitoring the shift in the frequency of an atomic wavepacket induced by the dipole-dipole interaction.
AB - We demonstrate that atomic wavepackets can serve as sensitive detectors for investigating atomic and molecular dynamics. In concert with parametric four-wave mixing, the interference between coherent superpositions of atomic excited states produced by ultrafast (∼150 fs) pump and probe pulses provides a new and powerful tool with which fundamental processes, such as molecular dissociation and Rydberg-Rydberg atomic collisions, can be observed with the extraordinary sensitivity afforded by a coherent nonlinear optical process. Experiments are described in which the dissociation of an electronically excited molecule (Rb2) and the distribution of atomic fragments into excited states spanning > 10 000 cm-1 are observed. Also, resonant collisions between Rb atoms in the 7s and 5d states are detected by monitoring the shift in the frequency of an atomic wavepacket induced by the dipole-dipole interaction.
KW - Molecular dissociation
KW - Nonlinear spectroscopy
KW - Parametric four-wave mixing
KW - Wavepackets
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U2 - 10.1109/JSTQE.2004.824097
DO - 10.1109/JSTQE.2004.824097
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:2442499420
SN - 1077-260X
VL - 10
SP - 159
EP - 168
JO - IEEE Journal on Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics
JF - IEEE Journal on Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics
IS - 1
ER -