Stimulated Raman adiabatic passage with two-color x-ray pulses

Recent techniques in x-ray free electron lasers allow the generation of highly coherent, intense x-ray pulses with time lengths on the order of femtoseconds. Here we explore the possibilities of using such x-ray pulses to control matter based on coherence. In particular we propose a theoretical scheme to perform stimulated Raman adiabatic passage in the x-ray regime by using inner-hole excited states. Numerical results in two well-known systems, the neon atom and the carbon monoxide molecule, show a robust control of population transfer. In the molecule, vibrational selectivity is achieved with femtosecond x-ray pulses. This work supports the possibility of using two-color x-ray pulses for coherent control. (paper)