Optimal control theory for a target state distributed in time: Optimizing the probe-pulse signal of a pump-probe-scheme

Optical N-wave-mixing spectroscopy with strong and temporally well-separated pulses: the doorway-window representation

We have extended the doorway-window representation of optical pump-probe spectroscopy with weak pulses toward N-wave-mixing spectroscopy with temporally well-separated pulses of arbitrary strength. The expressions for the signals in the strong-pulse doorway-window representation are derived in the framework of the nonperturbative theory of N-wave-mixing spectroscopy. The strong-pulse doorway-window representation is complementary to the equation-of-motion phase-matching approach. The latter fully accounts for pulse-overlap effects in signals induced by weak pulses but is computationally more expensive. The performance of the doorway-window approximation for temporally well-separated strong pulses is illustrated for an electronic two-level system with an underdamped Condon-active vibrational mode.

Acceleration of quantum optimal control theory algorithms with mixing strategies

We propose the use of mixing strategies to accelerate the convergence of the common iterative algorithms utilized in quantum optimal control theory (QOCT). We show how the nonlinear equations of QOCT can be viewed as a "fixed-point" nonlinear problem. The iterative algorithms for this class of problems may benefit from mixing strategies, as it happens, e.g., in the quest for the ground-state density in Kohn-Sham density-functional theory. We demonstrate, with some numerical examples, how the same mixing schemes utilized in this latter nonlinear problem may significantly accelerate the QOCT iterative procedures.