Journal
NATURE PHOTONICS
Volume 7, Issue 1, Pages 38-42Publisher
NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
DOI: 10.1038/NPHOTON.2012.299
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Funding
- Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO Veni grant) [680-47-402]
- NWO(VICI grant) [680-47-310]
- Foundation for Fundamental Research on Matter (FOM) through its programme 'Broken Mirrors and Drifting Constants'
- Laserlab Europe (JRA ALADIN and INREX)
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Quantum coherent control(1-6) is a powerful tool for steering the outcome of quantum processes towards a desired final state by the accurate manipulation of quantum interference between multiple pathways. Although coherent control techniques have found applications in many fields of science(7-12), the possibilities for spatial and high-resolution frequency control have remained limited. Here, we show that the use of counter-propagating broadband pulses enables the generation of fully controlled spatial excitation patterns. This spatial control approach also provides decoherence reduction, which allows the use of the high-frequency resolution of an optical frequency comb(13,14). We exploit the counter-propagating geometry to perform spatially selective excitation of individual species in a multicomponent gas mixture, as well as frequency determination of hyperfine constants of atomic rubidium with unprecedented accuracy. The combination of spectral and spatial coherent control adds a new dimension to coherent control, with applications in nonlinear spectroscopy, microscopy and high-precision frequency metrology, among others.
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