Abstract

A long-sought-after goal in chemistry and physics has been the desire to externally control and manipulate molecular dynamical processes governed by the laws of quantum mechanics. Although optimal control theory is widely used in many engineering disciplines, it has only recently been recognized that these concepts are applicable to the design of controllers (e.g., external optical fields) for manipulating molecular scale events. The theoretical concepts of quantum mechanical optimal control theory will be reviewed and illustrated with realistic computations. The prospect of teaching lasers in the laboratory to control molecules will also be discussed.

© 1992 Optical Society of America