Highly efficient and selective excitation by adiabatic inversion

In this study, we discuss excitation processes of atoms by a quadratically chirped pulse or by a sequence of linearly chirped pulses. Not only one-photon excitation, but also multi-photon excitation can be achieved with unit probability utilizing the control theory of nonadiabatic transition, even when the final state has quasi degenerate states. By taking Cs and K atoms as examples, we will examine the usefulness and efficiency of the control scheme. (author)