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Physical Review A

Retroreflection-induced bichromatic adiabatic passage

Леонід Петрович Яценко, Bruce W. Shore, Nikolay V. Vitanov, Klaas Bergmann

Published Oct 14, 2003• 15 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We present a simple technique that can, without the need for frequency-chirped lasers or varying Stark shifts, produce a complete adiabatic passage between two atomic or molecular bound states. The technique uses a single laser beam, which crosses the particle beam slightly tilted away from normal incidence, thereby inducing a controlled Doppler shift. A subsequent retroreflection produces effectively a two-pulse bichromatic field in the rest frame of each particle. The retroreflected beam is parallel to the incident beam, but is slightly offset in space and has a reduced intensity. Using the adiabatic Floquet theory developed recently by Gu\'erin et al. [Phys. Rev. 63, 031403 (2001)] we show that such a field is capable of producing complete and robust population transfer between two quantum states. We derive the conditions for such transfer and illustrate the potential success with model simulations.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.68.043405

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We present a simple technique that can, without the need for frequency-chirped lasers or varying Stark shifts, produce a complete adiabatic passage between two atomic or molecular bound states. The technique uses a single laser beam, which crosses the particle beam slightly tilted away from normal incidence, thereby inducing a controlled Doppler shift. A subsequent retroreflection produces effectively a two-pulse bichromatic field in the rest frame of each particle. The retroreflected beam is parallel to the incident beam, but is slightly offset in space and has a reduced intensity. Using the adiabatic Floquet theory developed recently by Gu'erin et al. [Phys. Rev. 63, 031403 (2001)] we show that such a field is capable of producing complete and robust population transfer between two quantum states. We derive the conditions for such transfer and illustrate the potential success with model simulations.
We present experimental data to demonstrate coherently driven population inversion by retroreflection-induced bichromatic adiabatic passage in metastable helium atoms. Complete and robust population transfer from an initial to a target state is induced by coherent interaction of the atoms in a supersonic beam with two counterpropagating and temporally delayed laser pulses of different intensities. The radiation fields intersect the atomic beam slightly tilted away from normal incidence, thereby inducing Doppler shifts of the atomic resonance between the initial and the target state. Thus the laser pulses produce a bichromatic field in the rest frame of each atom, which induces complete coherent population transfer by an adiabatic passage process.
We show that the technique of Stark-chirped rapid adiabatic passage (SCRAP), hitherto used for complete population transfer between two quantum states, offers a simple and robust method for complete population transfer amongst three states in atoms and molecules. In this case SCRAP uses three laser pulses: a strong far-off-resonant pulse modifies the transition frequencies by inducing dynamic Stark shifts and thereby creating time-dependent level crossings amongst the three diabatic states, while near-resonant and moderately strong pump and Stokes pulses, appropriately offset in time, drive the population between the initial and final states via adiabatic passage. The population transfer efficiency is robust to variations in the intensities of the lasers, as long as these intensities are sufficiently large to enforce adiabatic evolution. With suitable pulse timings the population in the (possibly decaying) intermediate state can be minimized, as with stimulated Raman adiabatic passage (STIRAP). This technique applies to one-photon as well as multiphoton transitions and it is also applicable to media exhibiting inhomogeneous broadening; these features represent clear advantages over STIRAP by overcoming the inevitable dynamical Stark shifts that accompany multiphoton transitions as well as unwanted detunings, e.g., induced by Doppler shifts.
We demonstrate and analyze a novel scheme for complete transfer of atomic or molecular population between two bound states, by means of Stark-chirped rapid adiabatic passage (SCRAP). In this two-laser technique a delayed-pulse laser-induced Stark shift sweeps the transition frequency between two coupled states twice through resonance with the frequency of the population-transferring coupling laser. The delay of the Stark-shifting pulse with respect to the pulse of the coupling-laser Rabi frequency guarantees adiabatic passage of population at one of the two resonances while the evolution is diabatic at the other. The SCRAP method can give a population-transfer efficiency approaching unity. We discuss the general requirements on the intensity and timing of the pulses that produce the Rabi frequency and, independently, the Stark shift. We particularly stress extension to a double-SCRAP technique, a coherent variant of stimulated emission pumping in the limit of strong saturation. We demonstrate the success of the SCRAP method with experiments in metastable helium, where a two-photon transition provides the Rabi frequency.
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.
Stark-chirped rapid adiabatic passage [T. Rickes et al., J. Chem. Phys. 113, 534 (2000); A. A. Rangelov et al. Phys. Rev. A 72, 053403 (2005)] has been proposed as a laser scheme that allows the optical excitation of atoms or molecules with high quantum yields. The laser control proceeds via adiabatic passage assisted by dynamic Stark shifts. We propose several extensions of the scheme with alternative sequences, by frequency tuning or by repeating the pulse sequences, in order to achieve fine state selectivity within multilevel structures and adiabatic passage of quantum superposition states. The efficiency and selectivity of the schemes is compared with that achieved by other optical coherent methods.
We describe a technique for creating superpositions of degenerate quantum states, such as are needed for beam splitters used in matter-wave optics, by manipulating the timing of three orthogonally polarized laser beams through which moving atoms (or molecules) pass; motion across the laser beams produces pulses in the atomic rest frame. As illustrated with representative simulations for transitions in metastable neon, a single pass through three overlapping laser beams can produce superpositions (with preselected phase) of atomic beams differing by transverse momentum corresponding to the momentum of four photons. Like the two-photon momentum transfer of the tripod linkage pattern which it extends, the method relies on controlled adiabatic time evolution in the Hilbert subspace of two degenerate dark states. It is thus a generalization to multiple dark states (and larger transfers of linear momentum to the atomic beam) of the single dark state occurring with the stimulated Raman adiabatic passage (STIRAP) technique, and therefore it is potentially insensitive to decoherence due to spontaneous emission. By extending the tripod-linkage system to more numerous degenerate states, the technique not only increases the atomic beam deflections but, as we demonstrate, allows control over the superposition phase and amplitudes. LIke other techniques based on adiabatic time evolution, the technique is robust with respect to variations of the intensity, timing, and other characteristics of the laser fields. Unlike STIRAP, the same robust partial population transfer occurs for opposite timings of the pulse sequence, as is needed for such procedures as Hadamard gates.