Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

arXiv:1807.01465 · Physical Review Letters

Adiabatic Passage to the Continuum: Controlling Ionization with Chirped Laser Pulses

Ulf Saalmann, Sajal Kumar Giri, Jan Michael Rost

Published Oct 11, 2018• 29 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We demonstrate that, by changing the direction of the chirp in vacuum-ultraviolet pulses, one can switch between excitation and ionization with very high contrast, if the carrier frequency of the light is resonant with two bound states. This is a surprising consequence of rapid adiabatic passage if extended to include transitions to the continuum. The chirp phase locks the linear combination of the two resonantly coupled bound states whose ionization amplitudes interfere constructively or destructively depending on the chirp direction under suitable conditions. We derive the phenomenon in a minimal model and verify the effect with calculations for helium as a realistic example.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.121.153203

Related papers

Stark-chirped rapid adiabatic passage: Propagation of laser pulses and spacetime evolution of populations and of two-photon coherence

Vasily G. Arkhipkin, S. A. Myslivets, Ivan V. Timofeev

On the basis of a vector model, the propagation of laser pulses under the conditions of a two-photon quasiresonance in the case of Stark-chirped rapid adiabatic passage through the resonance is studied with allowance for a diabatic character of the interaction. It is shown that the shape of a pulse propagating in a medium changes, the sweeping of its carrier frequency occurring concurrently. Special features of the spacetime evolution of the population difference in a two-photon transition and of the two-photon coherence during pulse propagation are analyzed. It is established that a complete population inversion and a maximum coherence may exist over a long length of the medium if the corresponding conditions are satisfied at the boundary. A new possibility for achieving a high coherence (close to a maximum value) is proposed.

Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Physics•Oct 1, 2003•2 citations

Adiabatic passage on high-order multiphoton transitions

George N. Gibson

Coherent interactions between light fields and simple quantum systems, such as $\ensuremath{\pi}$-pulses and adiabatic passage through frequency chirps and stimulated Raman interactions, generally use one- or two-photon processes. This limits the use of such interactions to energy scales close to the photon energy of the control field. However, recent calculations have shown that a 3-level system, generic to ionized diatomic molecules, shows such a strong multiphoton coupling that $\ensuremath{\pi}$-pulses are possible on at least 12-photon transitions. In this paper, we show that adiabatic transfer of population is also possible on such high-order multiphoton transitions. Full one-dimensional quantum mechanical two-electron calculations confirm this effect even in a system with many excited states and an ionization continuum.

Physical Review A•Oct 14, 2005•23 citations

Ionization dynamics in intense pulsed laser radiation. Effects of frequency chirping

Roberta Marani, E J Robinson

Via a non-perturbative method we study the population dynamics and photoelectron spectra of Cs atoms subject to intense chirped laser pulses, with Gaussian beams. We include above threshold ionization spectral peaks. The frequency of the laser is near resonance with the 6s-7p transition. Dominant couplings are included exactly, weaker ones accounted for perturbatively. We calculate the relevant transition matrix elements, including spin-orbit coupling. The pulse is taken to be a hyperbolic secant in time and the chirping a hyperbolic tangent. This choice allows the equations of motions for the probability amplitudes to be solved analytically as a series expansion in the variable , where is a measure of the pulse length. We find that the chirping changes the ionization dynamics and the photoelectron spectra noticeably, especially for longer pulses of the order of au. The peaks shift and change in height, and interference effects between the 7p levels are enhanced or diminished according to the amount of chirping and its sign. The integrated ionization probability is not strongly affected.

arXiv:physics/9812010•Journal of Physics B Atomic Molecular and Optical Physics•Jan 1, 1999•11 citations

Laser pulse control of Raman processes by chirped non-adiabatic passage

François Légaré, Szczepan Chelkowski, André D. Bandrauk

Chirped pulses allow for non-adiabatic passage between dressed states of Raman processes. It is shown that using an appropriately chirped pulse, one can control the interference between resonant and non-resonant pathways in stimulated Raman processes. A three-level system is studied in detail and application to complete ro-vibrational level inversion to high vibration quantum numbers (v > 10) in H2 via RCNAP (Raman chirped non-adiabatic passage) is presented. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Journal of Raman Spectroscopy•Jan 1, 2000•26 citations

Coherent control of ionization via stabilization by resonant pulse pairs

Edvin Olofsson, Evan Lovelle Fulton, Rezvan Tahouri +3 more

We study the nonlinear and resonant process of two-photon ionization of atoms (He and H) in a pump-probe scheme. The pump pulse prepares the quantum system in a superposition of the ground state and an excited bound state. By varying the phase difference between the pulses, we show how it is possible to coherently control the dressed-state population during the probe pulse. Our main result is that for certain laser parameters, the control over the dressed-state population leads to strong control of the ionization probability during the probe pulse. The effect arises due to one of the dressed states becoming stabilized against ionization. Contrasting effects from circular and linear polarized pulses demonstrate how such “bound states in the continuum” are sensitive to the degeneracy of the coupled continuum.

arXiv:2510.09441•Physical Review Research•Jan 31, 2026•5 citations

Selective excitation in a three-state system using a hybrid adiabatic-nonadiabatic interaction

Yunheung Song, Han-gyeol Lee, Hanlae Jo +1 more

The chirped-pulse interaction in the adiabatic coupling regime induces cyclic permutations of the energy states of a three-level system in the $V$-type configuration, which process is known as the three-level chirped rapid adiabatic passage (RAP). Here we show that a spectral hole in a chirped pulse can turn on or off the level mixing at adiabatic crossing points of this process, reducing the system to an effective two-level system. The given hybrid adiabatic-nonadiabatic transition enables selective excitation of the three-level system, controlled by the laser intensity and spectral position of the hole, as well as the sign of the chirp parameter. Experiments performed with shaped femtosecond laser pulses and the three lowest energy levels ($5{S}_{1/2}$, $5{P}_{1/2}$, and $5{P}_{3/2}$) of atomic rubidium $(\mathrm{Rb})$ show good agreement with the theoretically analyzed dynamics. The result indicates that our method, when being combined with the ordinary chirped RAP, implements an adiabatic transition between the Raman-coupled excited states. Furthermore, our laser intensity-dependent control may have applications including selective excitations of atoms or ions arranged in space when being used in conjunction with laser beam profile programming.

arXiv:1604.03699•Physical Review A•Aug 18, 2016•7 citations
We demonstrate that, by changing the direction of the chirp in vacuum-ultraviolet pulses, one can switch between excitation and ionization with very high contrast, if the carrier frequency of the light is resonant with two bound states. This is a surprising consequence of rapid adiabatic passage if extended to include transitions to the continuum. The chirp phase locks the linear combination of the two resonantly coupled bound states whose ionization amplitudes interfere constructively or destructively depending on the chirp direction under suitable conditions. We derive the phenomenon in a minimal model and verify the effect with calculations for helium as a realistic example.
On the basis of a vector model, the propagation of laser pulses under the conditions of a two-photon quasiresonance in the case of Stark-chirped rapid adiabatic passage through the resonance is studied with allowance for a diabatic character of the interaction. It is shown that the shape of a pulse propagating in a medium changes, the sweeping of its carrier frequency occurring concurrently. Special features of the spacetime evolution of the population difference in a two-photon transition and of the two-photon coherence during pulse propagation are analyzed. It is established that a complete population inversion and a maximum coherence may exist over a long length of the medium if the corresponding conditions are satisfied at the boundary. A new possibility for achieving a high coherence (close to a maximum value) is proposed.
Coherent interactions between light fields and simple quantum systems, such as $\ensuremath{\pi}$-pulses and adiabatic passage through frequency chirps and stimulated Raman interactions, generally use one- or two-photon processes. This limits the use of such interactions to energy scales close to the photon energy of the control field. However, recent calculations have shown that a 3-level system, generic to ionized diatomic molecules, shows such a strong multiphoton coupling that $\ensuremath{\pi}$-pulses are possible on at least 12-photon transitions. In this paper, we show that adiabatic transfer of population is also possible on such high-order multiphoton transitions. Full one-dimensional quantum mechanical two-electron calculations confirm this effect even in a system with many excited states and an ionization continuum.
Via a non-perturbative method we study the population dynamics and photoelectron spectra of Cs atoms subject to intense chirped laser pulses, with Gaussian beams. We include above threshold ionization spectral peaks. The frequency of the laser is near resonance with the 6s-7p transition. Dominant couplings are included exactly, weaker ones accounted for perturbatively. We calculate the relevant transition matrix elements, including spin-orbit coupling. The pulse is taken to be a hyperbolic secant in time and the chirping a hyperbolic tangent. This choice allows the equations of motions for the probability amplitudes to be solved analytically as a series expansion in the variable , where is a measure of the pulse length. We find that the chirping changes the ionization dynamics and the photoelectron spectra noticeably, especially for longer pulses of the order of au. The peaks shift and change in height, and interference effects between the 7p levels are enhanced or diminished according to the amount of chirping and its sign. The integrated ionization probability is not strongly affected.
Chirped pulses allow for non-adiabatic passage between dressed states of Raman processes. It is shown that using an appropriately chirped pulse, one can control the interference between resonant and non-resonant pathways in stimulated Raman processes. A three-level system is studied in detail and application to complete ro-vibrational level inversion to high vibration quantum numbers (v > 10) in H2 via RCNAP (Raman chirped non-adiabatic passage) is presented. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
We study the nonlinear and resonant process of two-photon ionization of atoms (He and H) in a pump-probe scheme. The pump pulse prepares the quantum system in a superposition of the ground state and an excited bound state. By varying the phase difference between the pulses, we show how it is possible to coherently control the dressed-state population during the probe pulse. Our main result is that for certain laser parameters, the control over the dressed-state population leads to strong control of the ionization probability during the probe pulse. The effect arises due to one of the dressed states becoming stabilized against ionization. Contrasting effects from circular and linear polarized pulses demonstrate how such “bound states in the continuum” are sensitive to the degeneracy of the coupled continuum.
The chirped-pulse interaction in the adiabatic coupling regime induces cyclic permutations of the energy states of a three-level system in the VVV-type configuration, which process is known as the three-level chirped rapid adiabatic passage (RAP). Here we show that a spectral hole in a chirped pulse can turn on or off the level mixing at adiabatic crossing points of this process, reducing the system to an effective two-level system. The given hybrid adiabatic-nonadiabatic transition enables selective excitation of the three-level system, controlled by the laser intensity and spectral position of the hole, as well as the sign of the chirp parameter. Experiments performed with shaped femtosecond laser pulses and the three lowest energy levels (5S1/25{S}_{1/2}5S1/2​, 5P1/25{P}_{1/2}5P1/2​, and 5P3/25{P}_{3/2}5P3/2​) of atomic rubidium (Rb)(\mathrm{Rb})(Rb) show good agreement with the theoretically analyzed dynamics. The result indicates that our method, when being combined with the ordinary chirped RAP, implements an adiabatic transition between the Raman-coupled excited states. Furthermore, our laser intensity-dependent control may have applications including selective excitations of atoms or ions arranged in space when being used in conjunction with laser beam profile programming.