Excitation of a quantum oscillator by short laser pulses

Abstract

The features of excitation of a quantum harmonic oscillator under the action of short laser pulses were studied numerically and analytically for transitions between stationary states. The probabilities of oscillator excitation (during the action of a pulse) as a function of the pulse duration and carrier frequency were calculated for arbitrary values of the electric field amplitude. It is shown that with increase in field amplitude the number of maxima in the spectrum and the excitation probability on the pulse duration increases. For laser pulses with different types of envelopes, analytical expressions were obtained that describe the positions of additional maxima in the excitation probability and the criteria for their appearances. Presented below are the results of numerical calculations for the probability of transition from an excited state to overlying state as a function of carrier frequency and laser pulse duration.