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arXiv:1012.5429 · Journal of Physics B Atomic Molecular and Optical Physics

Adiabatic passage and ensemble control of quantum systems

Zaki Leghtas, Alain Sarlette, Pierre Rouchon

Published Jul 25, 2011• 34 citations
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Abstract

This paper considers population transfer between eigenstates of a finite quantum ladder controlled by a classical electric field. Using an appropriate change of variables, we show that this setting can be set in the framework of adiabatic passage, which is known to facilitate ensemble control of quantum systems. Building on this insight, we present a mathematical proof of robustness for a control protocol—chirped pulse—practised by experimentalists to drive an ensemble of quantum systems from the ground state to the most excited state. We then propose new adiabatic control protocols using a single chirped and amplitude-shaped pulse, to robustly perform any permutation of eigenstate populations, on an ensemble of systems with unknown coupling strengths. These adiabatic control protocols are illustrated by simulations on a four-level ladder.

DOI
10.1088/0953-4075/44/15/154017

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We propose and experimentally demonstrate the method of population transfer by piecewise adiabatic passage between two quantum states. Coherent excitation of a two-level system with a train of ultrashort laser pulses is shown to reproduce the effect of an adiabatic passage, conventionally achieved with a single frequency-chirped pulse. By properly adjusting the amplitudes and phases of the pulses in the excitation pulse train, we achieve complete and robust population transfer to the target state. The piecewise nature of the process suggests a possibility for the selective population transfer in complex quantum systems.
We explore the efficiency and robustness of population transfer in two-state systems by adiabatic passage (i) when the driving pulse is optimally designed in order to lead to parallel adiabatic passage or (ii) with a linear chirping. We show how one could practically implement the corresponding designs of the pulses in the spectral domain. We analyze the robustness of the two shapings taking into account fluctuations of the phase, amplitude, and the area of the pulse. We show the overall superiority of the parallel adiabatic passage especially when one faces the issue of a pulse area that is not well known. We show that the robustness of parallel adiabatic passage is not improved when it is complemented by a correcting field that cancels out the nonadiabatic losses.
We propose a scheme for coherent control of population transfer and arbitrary superpositions of quantum states by a single-chirped laser pulse in a Λ-type excited-doublet four-level system. It is shown that selective, efficient, and robust population transfer from the initial state to the target states (excited or ground) can be achieved via chirped adiabatic passage when the pulse bandwidth is smaller than about 1/10 of the energy separations between the excited-doublet levels and between the ground states. Moreover, arbitrary coherent superpositions between the excited-doublet states, or between the higher ground state and either of the excited-doublet states, can be created by appropriately tuning the chirp rate and detuning the laser field. The proposed flexible method of coherent control of population transfer and arbitrary superpositions between the initially unpopulated states requires only a single pulse, and is robust against variations in the laser parameters, which has potential applications in quantum information processing.
We propose a class of schemes for robust population transfer between quantum states that utilize trains of coherent pulses, thus forming a generalized adiabatic passage via a wave packet. We study piecewise stimulated Raman adiabatic passage with pulse-to-pulse amplitude variation, and piecewise chirped Raman passage with pulse-to-pulse phase variation, implemented with an optical frequency comb. In the context of production of ultracold ground-state molecules, we show that with almost no knowledge of the excited potential, robust high-efficiency transfer is possible.
Population transfer via chirped rapid adiabatic passage is studied using open quantum and semiclassical models, with and without the rotating-wave approximation. A time-dependent variational approach based on the multiple-Davydov D2_22​ trial state is employed to simulate the quantum models with an arbitrary finite mean photon number. We examine the accuracy of both the semiclassical field description and the rotating-wave approximation. Robust population transfer is identified over a wide parameter regime controlled by the laser spectral chirp and is found to be insensitive to the spin--phonon coupling strength, Gaussian pulse area, and energy gap of the two-level system.
We demonstrate a method of adiabatic population transfer from a single quantum state into a coherent superposition of states. The transfer is executed with femtosecond pulses, spectrally shaped in a simple and intuitive manner, which does not require iterative feedback-controlled loops. In contrast to nonadiabatic methods of excitation, our approach is not sensitive to the exact value of laser intensity. We show that the population transfer is complete, and analyze the possibility of controlling the relative phases and amplitudes of the excited eigenstates. We discuss the limitations of the proposed control methods due to the dynamic level shifts and suggest ways of reducing their influence.