Toward the Simulation and Control of Multielectron Dynamics


  David J. Tannor  ,  Elie Assemat  ,  Shai Machnes  
Weizmann Institute of Science

In recent years, it has become possible to produce attosecond pulses (10-18 s).  These pulses are on the time scale of the electronic motion in atoms and molecules, and therefore it is possible with these pulses to probe and control electronic dynamics in atoms and molecules. Despite the fact that attosecond processes are at the forefront of AMO physics, the active control of attosecond physics, particularly of multielectron systems, has not yet been systematically studied. Of particular interest to us is the creation of novel, entangled states of two-electron or multielectron using shaped attosecond pulses, as well as controlling other multielectron processes such as sequential vs. concerted double ionization in helium and high harmonic generation in multielectron atoms. The existing numerical tools to describe these processes are extremely computationally demanding, with calculations possibly requiring weeks or months. We have recently developed an entirely new numerical scheme for solving the time-dependent Schroedinger equation. The method, which we call the periodic von Neumann (pvN) method, is based on a quantum phase space representation that gives the accuracy of a converged quantum mechanical calculation with the flexibility and intuition of a classical trajectory calculation. In the near future we intend to combine the method with optimal control theory to design attosecond laser pulses to control two- and ultimately multi-electron systems. We believe that optimized attosecond pulses will attract great experimental interest and will be one of the next frontiers in attosecond science.