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Journal of Mathematical Physics

Adiabatic evolution of an irreversible two level system

Andrei A. Kvitsinsky, Seth Putterman

Published May 1, 1991• 35 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The adiabatic dynamics of a two level atom with spontaneous decay is studied. The existence of a complex adiabatic phase shift is established: The real part being the usual Berry’s phase. A closed-form expression for this phase and the adiabatic transition amplitudes is obtained. Incorporation of a finite preparation time for the initial state yields a new asymptotic form for the adiabatic transition amplitudes which is significantly different from the standard Landau–Zener–Dykhne formula.

DOI
10.1063/1.529294

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The adiabatic dynamics of a two level atom with spontaneous decay is studied. The existence of a complex adiabatic phase shift is established: The real part being the usual Berry’s phase. A closed-form expression for this phase and the adiabatic transition amplitudes is obtained. Incorporation of a finite preparation time for the initial state yields a new asymptotic form for the adiabatic transition amplitudes which is significantly different from the standard Landau–Zener–Dykhne formula.
We investigate the Landau–Zener (LZ) like dynamics of decaying two- and three-level systems with decay rates Γ 1 and Γ 2 for levels with minimum and maximum spin projection. Non-adiabatic and adiabatic transition probabilities are calculated from diabatic and adiabatic bases for two- and three-level systems. We extend the familiar two-level model of atoms with decay from the excited state out of the system into the hierarchy of three-level models which can be solved analytically or computationally in a non-perturbative manner. Exact analytical solutions are obtained within the framework of an extended form of the proposed procedure which enables to take into account all possible initial moments rather than large negative time t 0 = − ∞ as in standard LZ problems. We elucidate the applications of our results from a unified theoretical basis that numerically analyzes the dynamics of a system as probed by experiments.
This paper is concerned with the problem of calculating amplitudes for nonadiabatic transitions induced by a time-dependent Hamiltonian, in the semiclassical limit h/→0, with emphasis on questions relevant to semiclassical theories of electronically inelastic scattering. For this problem the semiclassical limit is mathematically equivalent to the adiabatic limit, and the adiabatic theorem says that all these transition amplitudes vanish in the limit; the question is, what is the asymptotic form of the nonadiabatic amplitudes, as they go to zero? We consider Hamiltonia that are analytic matrix functions of time. We prove a generalization of the adiabatic theorem to the complex time plane; paradoxically, the adiabatic theorem in the complex plane gives us directly the nonadiabatic amplitudes along the real time axis. We derive Dykhne’s remarkable formula for the two-state case, which says that the limiting form of the transition amplitude depends only on the energy curves of the two states, not on the nonadiabatic coupling which is responsible for transition between them. We discuss the three-state problem at length and show that the obvious generalization of the Dykhne formula is sometimes true, sometimes false. To indicate the scope of methods based on the adiabatic theorem in the complex plane, we give an elementary proof of the semiclassical formula for above-barrier reflection of a one-dimensional particle.
We develop a theoretical description of non-Hermitian time evolution that accounts for the breakdown of the adiabatic theorem. We obtain closed-form expressions for the time-dependent state amplitudes, involving the complex eigenenergies as well as interband Berry connections calculated using basis sets from appropriately chosen Schur decompositions. Using a two-level system as an example, we show that our theory accurately captures the phenomenon of ``sudden transitions,'' where the system state abruptly jumps from one eigenstate to another.
A formalism for calculating Berry phases for nonadiabatic systems containing an additional adiabatic time dependence is developed. This is then applied to a two-level atom in a strong resonant polarized laser, where the laser polarization provides the adiabatic parameter. It is found that, when the laser polarization is kept constant, judicious polarization choices allow one to eliminate either the rotating-wave or non-rotating-wave part of the interaction. Furthermore, the adiabatic Berry phasor obtained when the laser polarization is varied is found to be complex. This can be compared to the case of purely adiabatic time-reversal even systems, which can only have real Berry phasors.
We study the SSS matrix for the transitions at an avoided crossing of several energy levels, which is a multilevel generalization of the Landau-Zener problem. We demonstrate that, by extending the Schr\"odinger evolution to complex time, one can obtain an exact answer for some of the transition amplitudes. Similar to the Landau-Zener case, our result covers both the adiabatic (slow evolution) and the diabatic (fast evolution) regimes. The form of the exact transition amplitude coincides with that obtained in a sequential pairwise level crossing approximation, in accord with the conjecture of Brundobler and Elser [J. Phys. A 26, 1211 (1993)].
We study the Landau–Zener problem for a decaying two-level system described by a non-Hermitian Hamiltonian, depending analytically on time. Use of a super-adiabatic basis allows us to calculate the survival probability P in the slow-sweep limit, without specifying the Hamiltonian explicitly. It is found that P consists of a 'dynamical' and a 'geometrical' factor. The former is determined by the complex adiabatic eigenvalues E ± ( t ), only, whereas the latter solely requires the knowledge of α ± ( t ), the ratio of the components of each of the adiabatic eigenstates. Both factors can be split into a universal one, depending only on the complex level crossing points, and a nonuniversal one, involving the full time dependence of E ± ( t ) and α ± ( t ). This general result is applied to the Akulin–Schleich model where the initial upper level is damped with damping constant γ. For analytic power-law sweeps we find that Stückelberg oscillations of P exist for γ smaller than a critical value γ c and disappear for γ > γ c . A physical interpretation of this behaviour will be presented by use of a damped harmonic oscillator.