Theoretical Femtosecond Physics (Summer 2026)

Vertiefungsvorlesung, 3 hours lecture and 1 hour exercise classes per week.

Laying the theoretical  foundations for understanding modern laser-matter interaction phenomena in atomic and molecular systems.

Preliminary contents of the lecture: theory of ultrafast laser-matter interaction

• time-dependent Schrödinger equation, Dyson series, Magnus expansion, Floquet theory, split-operator method
• minimal coupling und two-level systems (TLS), rotating-wave approximation, pi-pulses, Landau-Zener transitions, counter-diabatic driving, Floquet energies of TLS
• atoms in ultrafast laser fields: generation of attosecond pulses, tunnel- and multiphoton-ionisation, strong-field approximation, simple-man model, half-cycle pulses
• molecules in ultrafast laser fields: Born-Oppenheimer approximation and potential energy surfaces, ionisation und dissociation of homonuclear molecules, two-dimensional spectroscopy, coherent control of molecular dynamics

This is also a general lecture for IMPRS-QDC: https://www.imprs-pks.mpg.de/events/lectures-1