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Physical Review Letters

Efficient Coherent Population Transfer among Three States in NO Molecules by Stark-Chirped Rapid Adiabatic Passage

Martin Oberst, Holger Münch, Thomas Halfmann

Published Oct 25, 2007• 31 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We present the experimental demonstration of a novel, efficient, and selective technique to prepare population inversion. The technique is an extension of Stark-chirped rapid adiabatic passage (SCRAP), i.e., SCRAP among three states. In this process a Lambda-type quantum system is driven by two laser pulses, the pump and Stokes pulses, which are appropriately detuned from transition frequencies. A third laser pulse induces a dynamic Stark shift in the upper energy level, and the timing of all three pulses is controlled in order to prepare population inversion between the two lower states in the Lambda-type level scheme. Our data on population transfer in nitric oxide (NO) molecules clearly show that SCRAP among three states provides an advantageous alternative to such techniques as stimulated Raman adiabatic passage.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.99.173001

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Revista Mexicana de Física•Mar 2, 2021•1 citation
We present the experimental demonstration of a novel, efficient, and selective technique to prepare population inversion. The technique is an extension of Stark-chirped rapid adiabatic passage (SCRAP), i.e., SCRAP among three states. In this process a Lambda-type quantum system is driven by two laser pulses, the pump and Stokes pulses, which are appropriately detuned from transition frequencies. A third laser pulse induces a dynamic Stark shift in the upper energy level, and the timing of all three pulses is controlled in order to prepare population inversion between the two lower states in the Lambda-type level scheme. Our data on population transfer in nitric oxide (NO) molecules clearly show that SCRAP among three states provides an advantageous alternative to such techniques as stimulated Raman adiabatic passage.
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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 propose the use of the Stark-chirped rapid adiabatic passage (SCRAP) method to induce a complete population transfer in a nonlinear three-level Λ-type system (nl-SCRAP). We also use the nl-SCRAP method for creating stable diatomic ground molecular Bose–Einstein condensates (BECs) from atomic BECs. In this three-laser technique the pump and Stokes pulses are slightly detuned from transition frequencies, and a third strong hyperbolic-tangent laser pulse induces dynamic Stark shifts of the relevant transitions and compensates for third-order nonlinearities. If the timing of the three pulses is appropriately chosen, the nonlinear quantum system is prepared to almost complete population inversion between the two lower states in the Λ-like scheme. The paper shows that the efficiency of the nl-SCRAP is higher than the nonlinear stimulated Raman adiabatic passage (nl-STIRAP) technique, and this method can be used in one-photon as well as multi-photon transitions. The transfer process is robust concerning fluctuations of experimental parameters, such as peak Rabi frequencies, the time delay between pulses, and static detunings.
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.
The stark-chirped rapid adiabatic passage (SCRAP) is analyzed, which can give a complete transfer of atomic or molecular population between two bound states in the two level states and Λ(-three)-level state, by means of level-crossing technique and dressed states theory. SCRAP uses two laser pulses: a nearly-resonant pump laser pulse drives the population between a ground state and an excited state, and an intense far-off-resonance Stark laser pulse modifies the transition frequency and resonates with the Bohr transition frequency for two level crossings. A population-transfer maximal efficiency approaching unity is provided from the ground state to the excited state, when the delay of the Stark-shifting pulse with respect to the pulse of the coupling-laser frequency is appropriate and guarantees the pump pulse is strong at one of these crossings and is weak at second one.
We show that the technique of Stark-chirped rapid adiabatic passage (SCRAP), can be implemented in tripod quantum systems. We propose a scheme for coherent superposition among two ground states via Stark-shiftchirped rapid adiabatic passage technique in a tripod system. Tripod-SCRAP uses four laser pulses: an intense far-off-resonance Stark laser pulse modifies the transition frequency between the states by Stark shifting their energies and three nearly resonant pump, Stokes, and control laser pulses that fractionally transfer the population between the ground states via adiabatic passage. In our scheme, the pulse duration of the pump pulse must be larger than the pulse duration of the Stokes and control pulses, although with a smaller amplitude, and the atom encounters with the pump, Stokes, control, and Stark laser pulses with counterintuitive order (Stokes pulse arrives before the rest of the pulses). This technique can be applied to one-photon as well as multiphoton transitions and it is not necessary to vanish the pulses (pump and Stokes) simultaneously and it is a powerful alternative tool for f-STIRAP and tripod-STIRAP techniques at least when inhomogeneous broadenings are included. inhomogeneous broadening. This technique is robust against moderate variations in the intensities of the laser pulses,in detunings, and in delays between the pulses.