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Quantum tracking control of the orientation of symmetric-top molecules

Alicia B Magann, Tak-San Ho, Christian Arenz, Herschel A Rabitz

Phys. Rev. A, 2023, 108, 033106

Publication Abstract

The goal of quantum tracking control is to identify shaped fields to steer observable expectation values along designated time-dependent tracks. The fields are determined via an iteration-free procedure, which is based on inverting the underlying dynamical equations governing the controlled observables. In this paper, we generalize the ideas in [Phys. Rev. A 98, 043429 (2018)] to the task of orienting symmetric top molecules in three dimensions. To this end, we derive equations for the control fields capable of directly tracking the expected value of the three-dimensional dipole orientation vector along a desired path in time. We show this framework can be utilized for tracking the orientation of linear molecules as well, and present numerical illustrations of these principles for symmetric-top tracking control problems.