Coherent Control of Bound and Free Electron Dynamics
Prof. Dr. Thomas Baumert (Institut für Physik und CINSaT, Universität Kassel)

Ultrafast coherent laser control is a fascinating facet of femtochemistry as it seeks to steer any type of photophysical systems from an initial state to a predefined target state (traditionally) on the time scales of nuclear motion with the help of suitable polarization shaped femtosecond laser pulses. In addition direct control of valence electron dynamics in molecules is conveniently achieved with the help of state of the art pulse shaping devices having unprecedented temporal precision. In this talk, after an introduction, I will concentrate on our current experiments devoted to direct control of bound and free electron dynamics in atoms and molecules. As an application I will present the current status of our approaches to chiral recognition in the gas phase.