INTERFERENCE CONTROL OF PHOTODISSOCIATION BRANCHING RATIOS - 2-COLOR FREQUENCY TUNING OF INTENSE LASER FIELDS

Control over product probabilities and channel specific line shapes in molecular photodissociation is shown to result from quantum interference effects which can be manipulated by varying the frequencies of two intense laser fields. The laser fields, whose relative phase need not be well defined, have frequencies centered around two transitions: one between the continuum and an initially populated state and the second between the continuum and an initially unpopulated molecular bound state. Computations on Na-2 photodissociation show that control over product yields is extensive, with the branching ratio changing by a factor often as the frequencies are tuned over a convenient range.