Description
Conical intersections (CIs) play a central role in molecular dynamics, as they enable ultrafast non-radiative population transfer between electronic states and thus govern the outcome of many photochemical processes. Recent work has demonstrated potential opportunities to control nuclear dynamics via CIs by exploiting their symmetry-breaking properties [Phys. Rev. Lett. 120, 123001]. However, due to fast decoherence and nearly degenerate states, preparing controlled superpositions in the vicinity of a CI remains highly challenging. By simulating the dynamics numerically and explicitly including the interaction with the laser field, I investigate how such control can be applied. I find that the nuclear dynamics in the branching space are heavily influenced by the immediate transition dipole moments. Via the laser polarization, limited nuclear control is possible, allowing the governing of the nuclei on short time scales.
