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Physical Review A

Observation of Landau-Zener dynamics in classical optical systems

Dirk Bouwmeester, Nynke H. Dekker, F. E. van Dorsselaer, C. A. Schrama, Paul M. Visser, J. P. Woerdman

Published Jan 1, 1995• 58 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We report the observation of ``tunneling'' effects in a classical optical two-level system. In particular, we present experimental results for the optical implementations of the Landau-Zener model and of a hidden level-crossing model. The experimental results are in good agreement with theory for both the transition probability and the detailed time evolution of the wave function.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.51.646

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We report the observation of ``tunneling'' effects in a classical optical two-level system. In particular, we present experimental results for the optical implementations of the Landau-Zener model and of a hidden level-crossing model. The experimental results are in good agreement with theory for both the transition probability and the detailed time evolution of the wave function.
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Landau-Zener (LZ) tunneling can occur with a certain probability when crossing energy levels of a quantum two-level system are swept across the minimum energy separation. Here we present experimental evidence of quantum interference effects in solid-state LZ tunneling. We used a Cooper-pair box qubit where the LZ tunneling occurs at the charge degeneracy. By employing a weak nondemolition monitoring, we observe interference between consecutive LZ-tunneling events; we find that the average level occupancies depend on the dynamical phase. The system's unusually strong linear response is explained by interband relaxation. Our interferometer can be used as a high-resolution Mach-Zehnder-type detector for phase and charge.
We study the motion of a cold atom in a frequency-modulated standing laser wave. If the detuning between the atomic electronic transition and the field is large, the atom moves in a modulated optical potential demonstrating known classical nonlinear effects such as chaos and nonlinear resonances. If the atom-field detuning is small, then two optical potentials emerge in the system, and the atom performs Landau-Zener (LZ) tunnelings between them. It is a radically non-classical behavior. However, we show that classical nonlinear structures in system's phase space (KAM-tori and chaotic layers) survive. Quantum effect of LZ tunnelings only induces small random jumps of trajectories between these structures (dynamical tunneling).