This experimental research program focuses on the development of methods for learning control to yield information about the forces controlling quantum dynamics. This quantum control will use optical tools such as mode-locking, Fourier filtering, and parametric conversion to tailor fields to turn on and off in femtoseconds or less, and change their characteristics faster than a chemical bond can open or an atom can ionize. Unlike tunable laser absorption, laser cooling, or optical pumping, all of which also can control quantum states, strong field control can induce interactions so rapidly that decoherence from the environment or the electromagnetic vacuum cannot interfere. The broader impact of the program involves student education and outreach to the community.
