Salles des séminaires IRSAMC, Bât. 3R1B4, 3ème étage.
Molecules can be assembled from atoms using laser light.
This process is termed photoassociation. With the advent of
femtosecond lasers and pulse shaping techniques, photoassociation
became a natural candidate for coherent control of a
binary reaction which still remains an open challenge despite the
success of control for unimolecular processes. The main difference
between unimolecular processes and a binary reaction lies in the
initial state - a single or few well-defined bound quantum states vs
an incoherent continuum of scattering states. For a binary reaction,
the nature of the scattering continuum is mainly determined by the
temperature of the atomic ensemble.
I will discuss various possibilities to control photoassociation at
high and ultralow temperatures.