Optimal control methods applied on the ionization processes of alkali dimers

We present two novel optimization methods by employing shaped fs-laser pulses in a closed feedback loop. The first describes control pulse cleaning where extraneous features were removed by applying genetic pressure on certain pulse components. The second reports parametric optimization with intuitive parameters such as subpulse distances, chirps, phase differences, and spectral peak patterns. These methods were conducted on the ionization process of alkali dimers produced in a molecular beam and improved the performances of the optimized pulses compared with short pulses at the same pulse energy. Moreover, we attempt to analyze the obtained pulse shapes regarding the underlying optimized processes. Further investigations concerning isotope selective fragmentation and optimal control of excitation processes of ultracold rubidium dimers in a magneto-optical trap (MOT) are also shown.