CONTROL OF CLASSICAL REGIME MOLECULAR OBJECTIVES - APPLICATIONS OF TRACKING AND VARIATIONS ON THE THEME

We examine the applicability of variations of exact tracking, includin g asymptotic tracking, state-dependent trajectory tracking, and compet itive tracking, for the problem of generating feasible external laser fields for control of classically modeled molecular motion via externa l laser fields. Applications are considered to the selective unimolecu lar dissociation of the stronger bond of highly coupled linear triatom ic molecules. Specifically, we explore two variations of exact trackin g, namely, asymptotic energy tracking and competitive acceleration tra cking. It is found that, in the former case, a high degree of physical intuition is needed to specify a desirable energy track a priori. In the latter case, less physical intuition is necessary since we only ne ed to specify the desired accelerations for given displacements, momen ta and potential at each time instead of following a prescribed track. However, a trade-off with this method arises due to the difficulty in predicting the relevant observables such as the dissociation probabil ity before actually integrating the equations of motions. (C) 1997 Els evier Science Ltd.