POPULATION-INVERSION USING LASER AND QUASI-STATIC MAGNETIC-FIELD PULSES

We show how, using a combination of a radiative pulse and a pulsed qua sistatic magnetic field, it is possible to obtain complete population inversion between two states in a multistate system. The population tr ansfer occurs between states of opposite parity, and does not require either careful control of pulse area nor frequency chirp. When the pul ses are applied in counter-intuitive order the method is dynamically e quivalent to stimulated Raman adiabatic passage (STIRAP). Complete inv ersion is also possible for intuitively ordered pulses, with robustnes s equivalent to that of STIRAP.