On the control of the production of hydrogen atom 2s-2p resonance hybrids through the use of competitive one- and two-photon transitions from the ground state

The control of the formation of dipolar hydrogen atom 2s-2p hybrid states, through varying the relative phase delta of two lasers inducing simultaneou s one- and two-photon transitions from the ground state, is discussed by us ing time-dependent perturbation theory. Numerical examples are presented th at illustrate how the populations of the hybrid states can be controlled by varying delta. The perturbative calculations are augmented by various exac t finite basis set, and full split operator/fast Fourier transform, solutio ns to the time-dependent wave equation for the problem. (C) 2000 American I nstitute of Physics. [S0021-9606(00)30928-X].