We propose a technique for coherent population inversion of a two-state system, which uses an amplitude-modulated pulse. In the modulation-free adiabatic basis, the modulation introduces oscillating interaction between the adiabatic states. In a second rotating-wave approximation picture, this oscillating interaction induces a pair of level crossings between the energies of the adiabatic states if the modulation frequency is chosen appropriately. By suitably offsetting the modulation with respect to the center of the pulse, one can make the modulation act only in the vicinity of one of these crossings. In a higher-order adiabatic basis, this crossing shows up as an avoided crossing between the energies of the higher-order adiabatic states. As a result robust and efficient population transfer can be achieved between the adiabatic states, and hence, between the original bare states. We derive analytically the conditions on the interaction parameters for this technique and verify them with numerical simulations. Possible experimental implementations are discussed.
We propose a technique for coherent population inversion of a two-state system, which uses an amplitude-modulated pulse. In the modulation-free adiabatic basis, the modulation introduces oscillating interaction between the adiabatic states. In a second rotating-wave approximation picture, this oscillating interaction induces a pair of level crossings between the energies of the adiabatic states if the modulation frequency is chosen appropriately. By suitably offsetting the modulation with respect to the center of the pulse, one can make the modulation act only in the vicinity of one of these crossings. In a higher-order adiabatic basis, this crossing shows up as an avoided crossing between the energies of the higher-order adiabatic states. As a result robust and efficient population transfer can be achieved between the adiabatic states, and hence, between the original bare states. We derive analytically the conditions on the interaction parameters for this technique and verify them with numerical simulations. Possible experimental implementations are discussed.
We show that the physical mechanism of population transfer in a three-level system with a closed loop of coherent couplings is not equivalent to an adiabatic rotation of the dark state of the Hamiltonian, but corresponds to a rotation of a higher-order trapping state in a generalized adiabatic basis. The concept of generalized adiabatic basis sets is used as a constructive tool to design pulse sequences for stimulated Raman adiabatic passage, which also give maximum population transfer under conditions when the usual condition of adiabaticty is only poorly fulfilled. Under certain conditions for the pulses (generalized matched pulses), there exists a higher-order trapping state, which is an exact constant of motion, and analytic solutions for the atomic dynamics can be derived.
Frequency swept pulses are used to invert population over a broad band of transition frequencies without the need for a precise calibration of the pulse amplitude. As long as the adiabatic approximation is valid, population is adiabatically inverted at each individual transition frequency of the swept range. Even though this picture fails to be true when the adiabatic approximation breaks down, population inversion can still be achieved for an appreciable range of transition frequencies and field amplitudes. We discuss population inversion in an ensemble of two-level systems by a frequency-swept pulse, the so-called constant adiabaticity pulse, without invoking the adiabatic approximation. The equations of motion are integrated by a seminumerical method to analyze population inversion in the regime where usually the adiabatic approximation is applied. The effects of resonance offset and variable pulse amplitude are described by an average Hamiltonian expansion to discuss pulse performance beyond the validity of the adiabatic approximation. As a function of the adiabaticity parameter (reciprocal of the pulse area), the inversion bandwidth increases in a stepwise fashion due to the consecutive cancellation of average Hamiltonians. The first inversion over a finite range of transition frequencies and pulse amplitudes is shown to occur for an adiabaticity parameter of 1/15.
We describe a class of continuously phase-modulated radiation pulses that result in coherent population inversion on resonance as well as over a large range of transition frequencies and radiation field strengths. This is a population-inversion analogy to self-induced transparency. Simulations of the inversion properties of the modulated inversion pulse (MIP) are presented. It is shown that the inversion behavior can be explained by treating the MIP as a highly efficient adiabatic sweep. Criteria for establishing adiabaticity are discussed in detail. Finally, a method is presented for generating a sequence of phase-shifted radio-frequency pulses, from the continuously modulated pulse, which can be implemented on modern NMR and coherent optical spectrometers; experimental confirmation is given.
Population inversion from an initial quantum state to a desired quantum state represents an exciting new frontier for quantum manipulation; that frontier is endowed with a strong interdisciplinary character and connections to other scientific fields, including atomic, molecular, and optical physics, as well as in solid-state devices, for fundamental studies, nuclear magnetic resonance and other spectroscopic techniques, metrology, interferometry, optical control of chemical reactions or quantum-information applications. Two-level systems are ubiquitous in these areas, and the driving of a population inversion is an important operation. So far various schemes for population transfer to a target state from an initial state have been proposed in theory and implemented in experiment. To be useful, such methods must, of course, be reliable, fast, and robust. Most literatures on two-level models investigated population inversion, which could be modelled by infinite-time processes. In this paper, by using a composite adiabatic passage (CAP) technique—in which the single pulse driving the quantum transition is replaced by a sequence of pulses with well-defined control phases, we investigate the population inversion problem of two-level quantum system with a finite duration. We take a sinusoidally varying pulse model that continuously vanishes at the beginning and the end of the finite duration as an example. The high-fidelity population inversion of the two-level system with finite duration is achieved. We discuss the effects of both coupling strength and detuning strength on the transition probability. It is found that this protocol could suppress the oscillations in the transition probability and reduce the admissible error bellow the 10 -4 quantum computation benchmark. The fidelity can arrive at 1, even with simple three- and five-composite pulse sequences. The protocol combines the advantages of adiabatic passage and composite pulses techniques. By choosing the composite phases appropriately, a high-fidelity, fast, stable and extremely robust complete population inversion is achieved for the finite-time two-level model. The values of the composite phases are universal for they do not depend on the pulse shapes and the chirp as long as the latter satisfy the symmetry property. Furthermore, the classical Hamiltonian is applied to describe the dynamic properties of the quantum system and further verify the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed CAP technique. The results we present here are general and in principle apply to any two- and multi-level quantum systems. The accuracy of the CAP technique and its robustness against parameter variations make the protocol suitable for ultrahigh-fidelity quantum manipulation. We believe that the protocol can be widely used in many different areas of science, ranging from the quantum information, the quantum chemical, and the quantum optics to the ultracold atomic and molecular physics.
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.
Coherent population transfer in quantum systems is of fundamental importance in many fields such as atomic and molecular collision dynamics, and information processing for qubit systems. Stimulated Raman nonadiabatic passage technique, when implemented in an externally driven three-level system, provides an efficient approach for realizing accelerated population transfer while maintaining robust quantum coherence, with no need of rotating wave approximation. However, previous protocols employ multiple pulses and imply that Rabi frequencies have a few oscillations during dynamical evolution. In this work, under the condition of two-photon resonance, we use a gauge transformation method to inversely design a Λ-configuration three-level system that can be solved exactly. By using SU(3) transformation, we establish the relationship between Schrödinger representation and gauge representation, where the effective Hamiltonian is an Abelian operator. Subsequently, we construct the desired Hamiltonian and further investigate its dynamic behavior. The result shows that by imposing appropriate boundary conditions on the control parameters, high-fidelity population transfer can be achieved in ideal evolution. In addition, for the practical case with pulse truncation and intermediate state decay, the fidelities of specific models can reach about 99.996% and 99.983%, respectively. Compared with other existing nonadiabatic quantum control schemes, the present scheme has the distinctive advantages. We achieve the required quantum control by applying only a few sets of Stokes and pump pulses without introducing any additional microwave field. This method does not exhibit Rabi oscillations in the dynamic process, nor does it produce singularities in the pulse itself.