Resonant driving of certain electronic transitions in diatomic molecules is
shown to yield collapses and revivals of the electronic populations due to
the quantized vibrational motion of the nuclei. We analyze the properties
of the vibrational potentials, the frequency and power of the classical dri
ving laser field for which this effect can be observed. (C) 2000 Elsevier S
cience B.V. All rights reserved.