Non-resonant, non-perturbative Dynamic Stark Control of Quantum Dynamics.

Philip J. Bustard, Guorong Wu, Rune Lausten +4 more

The non-resonant dynamic Stark effect is a powerful and general way of manipulating ultrafast processes in atoms, molecules, and solids with exquisite precision. We discuss the physics behind this effect, and demonstrate its efficacy as a method of control in a variety of systems. These applications range from the control of molecular rotational dynamics to the manipulation of chemical reaction dynamics, and from the suppression of vacuum fluctuation effects in coherent preparation of matter, to the dynamic generation of bandwidth for storage of broadband quantum states of light.

Benjamin Sussman

D. Valente, F. Brito, T. Werlang

The dynamic Stark shift results from the interaction of an atom with the electromagnetic field. We show how a propagating single-photon wave packet can induce a time-dependent dynamical Stark shift on a two-level system (TLS). A non-perturbative fully quantum treatment is employed, where the quantum dynamics of both the field and the TLS are analyzed. We also provide the means to experimentally access such time-dependent frequency by measuring the interference pattern in the electromagnetic field inside a 1D waveguide. The effect we evidence here may find applications in the autonomous quantum control of quantum systems without classical external fields, which can be useful for quantum information processing as well as for quantum thermodynamical tasks.

Marco Merkli

H. J. Carmichael, Daniel F. Walls

E. J. Zak

The present paper reports on results of quantum dynamics calculations for Stark-chirp rapid-adiabatic passage (SCRAP) in two-level systems with electric fields computed with the optimal control theory. The Pontryagin maximum principle is used to determine the robust optimal control fields in the presence of time-varying and spatially-inhomogeneous perturbing electric fields. The concept of a non-adiabatic correction to the Bloch vector dynamics is introduced and discussed. The existence of a non-zero geometric phase is proved for certain adiabatic paths, which correspond to the complete population return in the rapid-adiabatic passage. A connection is shown between the geometric phase and a measure of the non-adiabatic effects in the time evolution of the state vector during SCRAP. Different cost functionals used in the optimal control scheme are shown to correlate with different topologies of the paths followed by the parameters of the Hamiltonian, which tightly relates to the values of the geometric phase acquired by the adiabatic wavefunction.