RYDBERG WAVEPACKETS IN MOLECULES: From Observation to Control

Annual Review of Physical Chemistry

Vol. 56:91-117 (Volume publication date 5 May 2005)
First published online as a Review in Advance on November 11, 2004
https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.physchem.55.091602.094428

Abstract

▪ Abstract Significant advances in laser technology have led to an increasing interest in the time evolution of Rydberg wavepackets as a means to understanding, and ultimately controlling, quantum phenomena. Rydberg wavepackets in molecules are particularly interesting as they possess many of the dynamical complications of large molecules, such as nonadiabatic coupling between the various degrees of freedom, yet they remain tractable experimentally and theoretically. This review explains in detail how the method of interfering wavepackets can be applied to observe and control Rydberg wavepackets in molecules; it discusses the achievements to date and the possibilities for the future.

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