Evolutionary algorithms in the optimization of dynamic molecular alignment

We numerically study the optimization of dynamic molecular alignment by shaped femtosecond pulses. It is found that an accurate synchronization of the applied field to the molecular response is needed to obtain maximum alignment. Simple approaches based on low-dimensional parametrizations of the electric field are shown to be clearly inferior, especially in the strongly nonperturbative regime. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.