Coherent Control of Excited State Transitions

A 2D Fourier transform coherent control spectroscopy technique developed to measure the amplitude and phase of a two-photon transition between the excited states of a $V$-type quantum system is described. Individually shaped femtosecond optical pulses were used to prepare and control the excited state quantum wave functions of atomic rubidium vapor, and thereby to resolve the intra-5P shell transitions in the presence of dominant ground-state transitions.