Letter Search for interfering pathways for atomic squeezed states

J. Beckers, N. Debergh, Franciszek Hugon Szafraniec

G. S. Agarwal

The atomic squeezed states are known to exhibit oscillatory population distributions. The origin of these oscillations is traced back to different pathways that contribute to the amplitude of oscillations. The zeros in the population distribution are due to complete destructive interference between two pathways.

Roberto Rey-de-Castro, Zaki Leghtas, HERSCHEL A. RABITZ

The expectation value of a quantum system observable can be written as a sum over interfering pathway amplitudes. In this Letter, we demonstrate for the fist time adaptive manipulation of quantum pathways using the Hamiltonian encoding-observable decoding (HE-OD) technique. The principles of HE-OD are illustrated for population transfer in atomic rubidium using shaped femtosecond laser pulses. The ability to manipulate multiple pathway amplitudes is of fundamental importance in all quantum control applications.

Luis Roa

Kevin Zelaya, Sanjib Dey, Véronique Hussin