Coherent Control of spin-orbit precession with shaped laser pulses

Béatrice Chatel (1) , Damien Bigourd (1, 2) , Sébastien J. Weber (1) , Bertrand Girard (1)

1 Femto (LCAR)
2 LCAR - Laboratoire Collisions Agrégats Réactivité

Spin precession in Rubidium atoms is investigated through a pump-probe technique. The excited wave packet corresponds to a precession of spin and orbital angular momentum around the total angular momentum. We show that using shaped laser pulses allows us to control this dynamics. With a Fourier transform limited pulse, the wave packet is initially prepared in the bright state (coupled to the initial state) whereas a pulse presenting a $\pi $ step in the spectral phase prepares the wave packet in the dark state (uncoupled to the initial state).

Mots clés: ultrashort pulses; coherent control; spin-orbit precession; Rubidium atom; pulse shaping

Domaines: Physique Atomique [physics.atom-ph]

Béatrice Chatel, Damien Bigourd, Sébastien J. Weber, Bertrand Girard. Coherent Control of spin-orbit precession with shaped laser pulses. Journal of Physics B: Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics, 2008, 41, pp.074023. ⟨10.1088/0953-4075/41/7/074023⟩. ⟨hal-00258045⟩