Control of polarized iodine atom branching ratio in NaI photodissociation

We report branching ratios between the ground and excited states of iodine atoms in the photodissociation of sodium iodide. We employ wave packet propagation techniques to study the optimal production of polarized iodine atoms and find experimentally realizable laser parameters to control the outcome. Application of a learning algorithm shows that the product branching can be controlled by suitably varying the time delay, the chirp, and the relative phase of the pump and control laser pulses. Periodic modulation of the polarized iodine atom branching ratio as a function of the delay between the firing of the two ultrashort laser pulses provides interesting insights into the photodissociation process.