Design of infrared laser pulses for the deexcitation of highly excited homonuclear diatomic molecules

We explore the possibility of using shaped infrared laser pulses to deexcite a homonuclear diatomic molecule from its highest vibrational state down to its ground vibrational state. The motivation for this study arises from the need to deexcite alkali metal dimers in a similar way so as to stabilize molecular Bose-Einstein condensates. We demonstrate that for the case of the H2 molecule, where it is possible to evaluate all the necessary high accuracy ab initia data on the interaction of the molecule with an electric field, we are able to successfully design a sequence of infrared laser pulses to accomplish the desired deexcitation process in a highly efficient manner.