A Chebychev propagator for inhomogeneous Schrödinger equations

J Chem Phys. 2009 Mar 28;130(12):124108. doi: 10.1063/1.3098940.

Abstract

A propagation scheme for time-dependent inhomogeneous Schrödinger equations is presented. Such equations occur in time dependent optimal control theory and in reactive scattering. A formal solution based on a polynomial expansion of the inhomogeneous term is derived. It is subjected to an approximation in terms of Chebychev polynomials. Different variants for the inhomogeneous propagator are demonstrated and applied to two examples from optimal control theory. Convergence behavior and numerical efficiency are analyzed.