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Physical Review A

Quantum tunneling switch in a planar four-well system

Gengbiao Lu, Wenhua Hai

Published May 24, 2011• 20 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We investigate the tunneling dynamics of a single atom in a planar four-well potential driven by a high-frequency ac field. The quasienergy spectrum exhibits anticrossing and crossing, which are related to selective coherent destruction of tunneling (CDT) with several selectable directions. By using the CDTs of different directions, the switchlike effect is shown for the six tunneling pathways among the four wells. Applying the present results, we suggest a scheme for designing a single-atom quantum motor with the driving field as a quantum starter.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.83.053424

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We investigate the tunneling dynamics of a single atom in a planar four-well potential driven by a high-frequency ac field. The quasienergy spectrum exhibits anticrossing and crossing, which are related to selective coherent destruction of tunneling (CDT) with several selectable directions. By using the CDTs of different directions, the switchlike effect is shown for the six tunneling pathways among the four wells. Applying the present results, we suggest a scheme for designing a single-atom quantum motor with the driving field as a quantum starter.
Coherent control of quantum tunneling is investigated for a single atom held in a driven triple-well potential without tight-binding approximation. In the high-frequency regime within or without multiphoton resonance, we find the analytical solutions and their numerical correspondences, including the special Floquet states of invariant populations and the non-Floquet states of slowly varying populations. The Floquet quasienergy spectrum exhibits anticrossings and crossings for different values of the driving parameters, which are associated with different tunneling properties described by the non-Floquet states. Applying the presented results, we suggest a scheme for transporting a single atom between nonadjacent wells or between adjacent wells.
The phenomenon of tunneling is investigated for a symmetric double-well potential perturbed by a monochromatic driving force. The analysis is based on a numerical treatment of the quantum map that propagates the system over one period of the external force, and of the spectrum of its eigenphases (quasienergies). The variety in the quasienergy spectrum, such as exact and avoided crossings, leads to novel forms of coherent tunneling. In particular, for specific parameter values of the driving force, we find almost complete localization of the wave packet in one of the wells.
We study the coherent manipulation of quantum spin dynamics via simple analytic solutions for a spin–orbit (SO) coupled ultracold atom held in a driven double well. In the high-frequency regime, we analytically obtain the quasienergies, the Floquet states, and the non-Floquet state of this system. When the system parameters are properly selected, the non-Floquet state reduces to special quantum states of simple forms which can provide a more intuitive understanding of some interesting quantum spin dynamical phenomena, such as the intrawell spin–flipping, the interwell spin-conserving tunneling, and the interwell spin–flipping tunneling. Specially, for the interwell spin–flipping tunneling, we surprisingly find that the selective coherent destruction of tunneling (SCDT) can occur at the anti-crossing (non-collapse) points of quasienergy spectrum, which breaks the conventional understanding that the SCDT is associated with the crossing of quasienergy levels. Further, we reveal the interwell spin–flipping tunneling strongly depends on the initial spin direction and the initial position of the SO-coupled atom. These novel results can be readily tested by the current experimental setups and may be useful for the design of spintronic devices.
The aim to control the internal and external degrees of freedom of quantum systems is of great interest for many fields of physics and chemistry. One opportunity to realize such a coherent control is provided by strong, time depended, external fields. In this work the experimental realization of a model-system is presented. The coherent control of the tunneling dynamics of single atoms by means of a time-periodic, external field is demonstrated. Depending on the parameters of the driving force the tunneling rate can be varied up to a total suppression of the tunneling process in the extreme. This type of dynamical localization is known as "coherent destruction of tunneling". The experimental setup allows a direct access to the tunneling dynamics of single atoms in a double well structure and enables great freedom concerning the parameters. Not only the double well potential, the driving frequency and the driving amplitude can be varied, but also the temporal and spatial symmetry of the driving. A coherent beam of slow, metastable argon atoms serves as source of particles, which can be detected spatially resolved enabling the direct observation of the tunneling dynamics in momentum space.
We investigate the coherent control of quantum tunneling for a single particle held in a driven double-well potential. For a moderate-frequency region, we demonstrate that the irregular quantum tunneling is associated with classically chaotic dynamics. A set of lower resonance-like frequencies is found, for which the coherent destruction of tunneling in the sense of the time average is illustrated numerically. For a high-frequency region, it is shown that the particle is located at the bottom of each well alternately for a long time and the time located in one well can be modulated by adjusting the driving field. The results could be useful for the experiments of controlling single-particle tunneling [see, e.g., E. Kierig, U. Schnorrberger, A. Schietinger, J. Tomkovic, and M. K. Oberthaler, Phys. Rev. Lett. 100, 190405 (2008).].