Steering wave packet dynamics and population transfer between electronic states of the Na2 molecule by femtosecond laser pulses

An approach used for steering the wave packet dynamics and the population transfer between electronic states of the Na-2 molecule by a pair of femtosecond laser pulses is demonstrated. Four controlling schemes, i.e., four different combinations of time delays (intuitive and counterintuitive sequences) and frequency detunings (positive and negative detunings), are discussed in detail. The light-induced potentials are used to describe the wave packet dynamics and population transfer. The numerical results show that the wave packet excited by femtosecond laser pulses oscillates drastically on 2(1)Pi(g) state with time. The efficiency of controlling population transfer from the X-1 Sigma(+)(g) to 2(1)Pi(g) states of Na-2 is nearly 100% for the schemes of the counterintuitive sequence pulses with positive and negative detunings. (C) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.