Coherent transient phenomena in quantum systems by spatially shaping femtosecond optical pulses

Abstract

Providing a femtosecond optical pulse with a proper transverse spatial profile represents a fast and relatively simple method to force a quantum system to follow a prescribed temporal evolution. In the present work, we show that the quantum system presents a surprisingly high sensitivity with respect to the spatial shape of the pulse. We discuss an explicit example where differences on the order of a few nanometers in the initial pulse's spot size induce completely different responses in the system under study.

Scaling symmetry and conserved charge for shape-invariant optical fields

“…Gaussian, Hermite-Gauss, LaguerreGauss, and paraxial nondiffracting beams (Bessel, Mathieu beams) are some representatives of them [7,[13][14][15][16]. In general, we can write their intensity as…”