title: Manipulating quantum pathways on the fly.
abstract: The expectation value of a quantum system observable can be written as a sum over interfering pathway amplitudes. In this Letter, we demonstrate for the fist time adaptive manipulation of quantum pathways using the Hamiltonian encoding-observable decoding (HE-OD) technique. The principles of HE-OD are illustrated for population transfer in atomic rubidium using shaped femtosecond laser pulses. The ability to manipulate multiple pathway amplitudes is of fundamental importance in all quantum control applications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, USA.
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rey-de-Castro
authors.forename: Zaki
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Leghtas
authors.forename: Herschel
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Rabitz