Adiabatic passage by light-induced potentials in molecules

We present the APLIP process (Adiabatic Passage by Light Induced Potentials) for the adiabatic transfer of a wave packet from one molecular potential to the displaced ground vibrational state of another. The process uses an intermediate state, which is only slightly populated, and a counterintuitive sequence of light pulses to couple the three molecular states. APLIP shares many features with STIRAP (stimulated Raman adiabatic passage), such as high efficiency and insensitivity to pulse parameters. However, in APLIP there is no two-photon resonance, and the main mechanism for the transport of the wave packet is a light-induced potential. The APLIP process appears to violate the Franck-Condon principle, because of the displacement of the wave packet, but does in fact take place on timescales which are at least a little longer than a vibrational timescale