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arXiv:0907.5535 · Physical Review A

Dissipative dynamics of a qubit coupled to a nonlinear oscillator

Carmen Vierheilig, Johannes Hausinger, Milena Grifoni

Published Nov 25, 2009• 9 citations
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Abstract

We consider the dissipative dynamics of a qubit coupled to a nonlinear oscillator (NO) embedded in an Ohmic environment. By treating the nonlinearity up to first order and applying Van Vleck perturbation theory up to second order in the qubit-NO coupling, we derive an analytical expression for the eigenstates and eigenfunctions of the coupled qubit-NO system beyond the rotating wave approximation. In the regime of weak coupling to the thermal bath, analytical expressions for the time evolution of the qubit's populations are derived: they describe a multiplicity of damped oscillations superposed to a complex relaxation part toward thermal equilibrium. The long-time dynamics is characterized by a single relaxation rate, which is maximal when the qubit is tuned to one of the resonances with the nonlinear oscillator.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.80.052331

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We consider the dissipative dynamics of a qubit coupled to a nonlinear oscillator (NO) embedded in an Ohmic environment. By treating the nonlinearity up to first order and applying Van Vleck perturbation theory up to second order in the qubit-NO coupling, we derive an analytical expression for the eigenstates and eigenfunctions of the coupled qubit-NO system beyond the rotating wave approximation. In the regime of weak coupling to the thermal bath, analytical expressions for the time evolution of the qubit's populations are derived: they describe a multiplicity of damped oscillations superposed to a complex relaxation part toward thermal equilibrium. The long-time dynamics is characterized by a single relaxation rate, which is maximal when the qubit is tuned to one of the resonances with the nonlinear oscillator.
We study the dissipative dynamics of a biased two-level system (TLS) coupled to a harmonic oscillator (HO), the latter interacting with an Ohmic environment. Using Van-Vleck perturbation theory and going to second order in the coupling between TLS and HO, we show how the Hamiltonian of the TLS-HO system can be diagonalized analytically. Our model represents an improvement to the usually used Jaynes-Cummings Hamiltonian as an initial rotating wave approximation is avoided. By assuming a weak coupling to the thermal bath, analytical expressions for the time evolution of the populations of the TLS are\nfound: the population is characterized by a multiplicity of damped oscillations together with a complex relaxation dynamics towards thermal equilibrium. The long time evolution is characterized by a single relaxation rate, which is largest at resonance and whose expression can be given in closed analytic form.
We study the dissipative dynamics of a biased two-level system (TLS) coupled to a harmonic oscillator (HO), the latter interacting with an Ohmic environment. Using the Van Vleck perturbation theory and going to second order in the coupling between the TLS and the HO, we show how the Hamiltonian of the TLS–HO system can be diagonalized analytically. Our model represents an improvement on the usually used Jaynes–Cummings Hamiltonian as an initial rotating wave approximation is avoided. By assuming a weak coupling to the thermal bath, analytical expressions for the time evolution of the populations of the TLS are found: the population is characterized by a multiplicity of damped oscillations together with a complex relaxation dynamics towards thermal equilibrium. The long time evolution is characterized by a single relaxation rate, which is largest at resonance and whose expression can be given in a closed analytic form.
In this thesis we investigate the interplay between dissipation and driving in nonlinear quantum systems for a special setup: a flux qubit read out by a DC-SQUID - a nonlinear quantum oscillator. The latter is embedded in a harmonic bath, thereby mediating dissipation to the qubit. Two different approaches are elaborated: First we consider a composite qubit-SQUID system and add the bath afterwards. We derive analytical expressions for its eigenstates beyond rotating wave approximation (RWA), by applying Van Vleck perturbation theory (VVPT) in the qubit-oscillator coupling. The second approach is an effective bath approach based on a mapping procedure, where SQUID and bath form an effective bath seen by the qubit. Here the qubit dynamics is obtained by applying standard procedures established for the spin-boson problem. This approach requires the knowledge of the steady-state response of the dissipative Duffing oscillator, which is studied within a resonant and an off-resonant approach: The first is applicable near and at an N-photon resonance using VVPT beyond a RWA. The second is based on the exact Floquet states of the nonlinear driven oscillator. The dissipative qubit dynamics is described analytically for weak system-bath coupling and agrees well for both approaches. We derive the effect of the nonlinearity on the qubit dynamics, on the Bloch-Siegert shift and on the vacuum Rabi splitting.
We consider a qubit coupled to a nonlinear quantum oscillator, the latter coupled to an Ohmic bath, and investigate the qubit dynamics. This composed system can be mapped onto that of a qubit coupled to an effective bath. An approximate mapping procedure to determine the spectral density of the effective bath is given. Specifically, within a linear response approximation the effective spectral density is given by knowledge of the linear susceptibility of the nonlinear quantum oscillator. To determine the actual form of the susceptibility, we consider its periodically driven counterpart, which is the problem of the quantum Duffing oscillator within linear response theory in the driving amplitude. Knowing the effective spectral density, the qubit dynamics is investigated. In particular, an analytic formula for the qubit's population difference is derived. Within the regime of validity of our theory, a very good agreement is found with predictions obtained from a Bloch-Redfield master equation approach applied to the composite qubit-nonlinear oscillator system.
The model of a two-level system (TLS) coupled to a harmonic oscillator has found a widespread application in physics and chemistry. In this thesis we focus on the field of circuit quantum electrodynamics where the TLS stands for a quantum bit (qubit), which is the basic building unit of a potential quantum computer, and the oscillator represents a transmission-line resonator, which can be used, e.g., to store information contained on the qubit or for communication between several qubits. Furthermore, the oscillator can model a superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) determining the state of the qubit. In first experimental realizations the coupling between the qubit and the oscillator was small compared to characteristic frequencies of the two devices. In such a situation the Jaynes-Cummings model provides a realistic and completely analytical description of the energy spectrum and the dynamics of the setup. However, it relies on a rotating-wave approximation (RWA) which neglects counter-rotating terms in the full qubit-oscillator Hamiltonian. These counter-rotating terms become important under increase of the coupling strength, as it has been achieved in recent experiments. We present two analytical approaches to take these additional contributions into account: The first one treats the qubit-oscillator Hamiltonian perturbatively in the coupling strength and predicts a frequency shift in its energy spectrum, the Bloch-Siegert shift. The second one considers the qubit's tunneling splitting as small parameter and thus treats the problem to all orders in the coupling allowing to enter the ultrastrong coupling regime, where the coupling strength becomes comparable to the qubit's and/or oscillator's frequency. For both cases we give a thorough analysis of the qubit's dynamics. In order to perform operations the qubit is usually probed by an external driving force. We model this situation by coupling the TLS to a classical oscillator and examine the resulting time dependent Hamiltonian using a combination of Floquet theory and Van Vleck perturbation theory. Thus, we provide an analysis of the qubit's energy spectrum and dynamics which is nonperturbative in the driving amplitude. We investigate effects like coherent destruction of tunneling and driving-inducing tunneling oscillations. By coupling the driven TLS to a quantized oscillator we give for the first time an analytical treatment of the qubit-oscillator system being simultaneously exposed to both ultrastrong coupling and extreme driving. We observe interesting phenomena in the dynamics like the suppression of specific frequencies under a variation of the coupling strength. To mimic environmental influences on the qubit we apply the Caldeira-Leggett master equation approach to the driven TLS and to the qubit-oscillator system and provide for both cases analytical expressions for the relaxation and dephasing rates.
We analyze the behavior of a damped quantum harmonic oscillator immersed in a heat bath with a nonlinear coupling. For this purpose, we construct a generalized master equation (GME) for the reduced density of the oscillator. We specialize the results for a quadratic coupling in the presence of a bosonic reservoir and an Ohmic dissipation model, analyzing the evolution equation for the mean value of the oscillator coordinate. In the asymptotic case we obtain a gain-loss master equation whose transition rates are polynomials in the number of quanta. No explicit solutions other than the equilibrium one can be written, since the standard methods do not apply. The equilibrium solution is investigated and the eigenvalues of the corresponding spectral problem are numerically computed to study the effect of the nonlinearity on the evolution of the system. By means of the Wigner transformation of the GME, we extract a third-order partial derivative equation that represents the semiclassical evolution of the damped oscillator. In the classical limit this is a nonlinear Fokker-Planck equation.