Coherent control of atomic excitation using off-resonant strong few-cycle pulses

Abstract

We study the dynamics of a two-level system driven by an off-resonance few-cycle pulse which has a phase jump φ at t=t0, in contrast to many-cycle pulses, under the nonrotating-wave approximation (NRWA). We give a closed form analytical solution for the evolution of the probability amplitude |Ca(t)| for the upper level. Using the appropriate pulse parameters like the phase jump φ jump time t0, pulse width τ, frequency ν, and Rabi frequency Ω0 the population transfer after the pulse is gone can be optimized and, for the pulse considered here, an enhancement factor of 106-108 was obtained. © 2010 The American Physical Society.