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arXiv:2009.11191 · Physical Review A

Morris-Shore transformation for nondegenerate systems

Kaloyan N. Zlatanov, G. S. Vasilev, Nikolay V. Vitanov

Published Dec 15, 2020• 13 citations
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Abstract

The Morris-Shore (MS) transformation is a powerful tool for decomposition of the dynamics of multistate quantum systems to a set of two-state systems and uncoupled single states. It assumes two sets of states wherein any state in the first set can be coupled to any state in the second set, but the states within each set are not coupled between themselves. Another important condition is the degeneracy of the states in each set, although all couplings between the states from different sets can be detuned from resonance by the same detuning. The degeneracy condition limits the application of the MS transformation in various physically interesting situations, e.g., in the presence of electric and/or magnetic fields or light shifts, which lift the degeneracy in each set of states, e.g., when these sets comprise the magnetic sublevels of levels with nonzero angular momentum. This paper extends the MS transformation to such situations, in which the states in each of the two sets are nondegenerate. To this end, we develop an alternative way for the derivation of Morris-Shore transformation, which can be applied to nondegenerate sets of states. We present an approximated eigenvalue approach, by which, in the limit of small detunings from degeneracy, we are able to generate an effective Hamiltonian that is dynamically equivalent to the nondegenerate Hamiltonian. The effective Hamiltonian can be mapped to the Morris-Shore basis with a two-step similarity transformation. After the derivation of the general framework, we demonstrate the application of this technique to the popular $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}$ three-state system, and the four-state tripod, double-$\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}$, and diamond systems. In all of these systems, our formalism allows us to reduce their quantum dynamics to simpler two-state systems even in the presence of various detunings, e.g., generated by external fields of frequency drifts.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.102.063113

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The Morris-Shore (MS) transformation is a powerful tool for decomposition of the dynamics of multistate quantum systems to a set of two-state systems and uncoupled single states. It assumes two sets of states wherein any state in the first set can be coupled to any state in the second set, but the states within each set are not coupled between themselves. Another important condition is the degeneracy of the states in each set, although all couplings between the states from different sets can be detuned from resonance by the same detuning. The degeneracy condition limits the application of the MS transformation in various physically interesting situations, e.g., in the presence of electric and/or magnetic fields or light shifts, which lift the degeneracy in each set of states, e.g., when these sets comprise the magnetic sublevels of levels with nonzero angular momentum. This paper extends the MS transformation to such situations, in which the states in each of the two sets are nondegenerate. To this end, we develop an alternative way for the derivation of Morris-Shore transformation, which can be applied to nondegenerate sets of states. We present an approximated eigenvalue approach, by which, in the limit of small detunings from degeneracy, we are able to generate an effective Hamiltonian that is dynamically equivalent to the nondegenerate Hamiltonian. The effective Hamiltonian can be mapped to the Morris-Shore basis with a two-step similarity transformation. After the derivation of the general framework, we demonstrate the application of this technique to the popular \ensuremathΛ\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}\ensuremathΛ three-state system, and the four-state tripod, double-\ensuremathΛ\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}\ensuremathΛ, and diamond systems. In all of these systems, our formalism allows us to reduce their quantum dynamics to simpler two-state systems even in the presence of various detunings, e.g., generated by external fields of frequency drifts.
Abstract The treatment of time-dependent dynamics of quantum systems involving multiple states poses considerable technical challenges. One of the most efficient approaches in treating such systems is the Morris–Shore (MS) transformation which decomposes the multistate dynamics to a set of independent systems of simpler interaction pattern and uncoupled spectator states. The standard MS transformation imposes restrictions on the time dependence of the external fields addressing the states, as it requires that both Rabi frequencies have the same time profile. In this work we treat the case of the time-dependent MS transformation, which opens prospects for a variety of physically interesting processes wherein the fields may have different time dependences. We explore the adiabatic and the double-adiabatic limit, in which we demonstrate population transfer between the MS states that results in population transfer from one set of states onto another. We demonstrate the generation of superposition states between the MS states by the techniques of half adiabatic passage and fractional stimulated Raman adiabatic passage, which translate to superpositions of all the states of the involved levels.
Descriptions of coherent excitation of multi-state quantum systems model changes through coupled ordinary differential equations that become more cumbersome as the number of involved quantum states increases. It is always useful to find simplifications of the equations, ideally involving exact analytic solutions. The ultimate simplification is to a set of independent pairs of quantum states. Such sets of independent two-state linkages occur naturally when we describe the excitation between two sets of degenerate Zeeman sublevels by a field that is linearly or circularly polarized. The Morris–Shore (MS) transformation, a Hilbert-space coordinate change, generalizes this procedure to replace the description of an elaborate linkage pattern of an -state Hamiltonian in the rotating-wave approximation by a set of independent two-state systems – a basis of paired bright states and excited states supplemented with dark states and spectator states. The three-state lambda-linkage found in stimulated Raman transitions is a simple example. Both bright and dark states have found application in various procedures for manipulating quantum states, either to achieve population transfer between states or to create coherent superpositions; the dark and spectator states coincide with particular dressed (or adiabatic) states. The present review describes the MS transformation, noting its historical background, and discusses examples of its use.
We describe situations in which chains of NNN degenerate quantum energy levels, coupled by time-dependent external fields, can be replaced by independent sets of chains of length NNN, $N\ensuremath{-}1,\dots{},2$ and sets of uncoupled single states. The transformation is a generalization of the two-level Morris-Shore transformation [J.R. Morris and B.W. Shore, Phys. Rev. A 27, 906 (1983)]. We illustrate the procedure with examples of three-level chains.
The exact analytical solution of the degenerate Landau-Zener model, wherein two bands of degenerate energies cross in time, is presented. The solution is derived by using the Morris-Shore transformation, which reduces the fully coupled system to a set of independent nondegenerate two-state systems and a set of decoupled states. Due to the divergence of the phase of the off-diagonal element of the propagator in the original Landau-Zener model, not all transition probabilities exist for infinite time duration. In general, apart from some special cases, only the transition probabilities between states within the same degenerate set exist, but not between states of different sets. An illustration is presented for the transition between the magnetic sublevels of two atomic levels with total angular momenta J=2J=2J=2 and 1.
A popular quantum system, in which the Pancharatnam-Berry non-Abelian geometric phase has been generated and exploited, is the atomic tripod system. It is conveniently created by linking a single atomic state with three other states by three electromagnetic fields. Such a linkage pattern naturally emerges between the magnetic sublevels of two atomic levels with angular momenta J=0J=0J=0 and J=1J=1J=1, although tripod implementations between other suitable sublevels are also used. Here we go beyond the limitation of a tripod system and show that it is possible to generate the non-Abelian geometric phase in a quantum system composed of NNN lower and $N\ensuremath{-}2$ upper sublevels. The theoretical instrument is the Morris-Shore transformation which reveals the existence of two uncoupled (dark) states composed of the lower sublevels only. A possible physical implementation is the atomic transition $J\ensuremath{\leftrightarrow}J\ensuremath{-}1$, with JJJ arbitrary, which is driven, as in the case of tripod system, by three electromagnetic fields of different polarizations. This generalization considerably broadens the range of systems that can be used to generate a geometric phase, with the the same experimental complexity as in the tripod system. Specific calculations of the non-Abelian geometric phase are presented for $J=\frac{3}{2}\ensuremath{\leftrightarrow}J=\frac{1}{2}$ and $J=2\ensuremath{\leftrightarrow}J=1$ systems. A method for measuring the geometric phase is proposed.
We show that the solution of a multistate system composed of NNN degenerate lower (ground) states and one upper (excited) state can be reduced by using the Morris-Shore transformation to the solution of a two-state system involving only the excited state and a (bright) superposition of ground states. In addition, there are $N\ensuremath{-}1$ dark states composed of ground states. We use this decomposition to derive analytical solutions for degenerate extensions of the most popular exactly soluble models: the resonance solution, the Rabi, Landau-Zener, Rosen-Zener, Allen-Eberly, and Demkov-Kunike models. We suggest various applications of the multistate solutions, for example, as tools for creating multistate coherent superpositions by generalized resonant $\ensuremath{\pi}$ pulses. We show that such generalized $\ensuremath{\pi}$ pulses can occur even when the upper state is far off resonance, at specific detunings, which makes it possible to operate in the degenerate ground-state manifold without populating the (possibly lossy) upper state, even transiently.