Abstract The influence of quantum tunneling effects on the bistability of nonlinear resonantly driven oscillators in the presence of external noise is analyzed by means of the generalized Fokker–Planck equation in quasi-energy space. Two time scales responsible for different stages of bistable system relaxation have been revealed. It was found that quantum tunneling effects could strongly change the switching rates between different stable states and considerably enhance occupation of the stable state with higher amplitude. It was also revealed that tunneling between nearly degenerate quasi-energy states and resonant multi-photon transitions between the genuine eigenstates of the nonlinear oscillator are just similar effects.
Abstract The influence of quantum tunneling effects on the bistability of nonlinear resonantly driven oscillators in the presence of external noise is analyzed by means of the generalized Fokker–Planck equation in quasi-energy space. Two time scales responsible for different stages of bistable system relaxation have been revealed. It was found that quantum tunneling effects could strongly change the switching rates between different stable states and considerably enhance occupation of the stable state with higher amplitude. It was also revealed that tunneling between nearly degenerate quasi-energy states and resonant multi-photon transitions between the genuine eigenstates of the nonlinear oscillator are just similar effects.
The nonequilibrium statistics and kinetics of a simple bistable system (resonantly driven nonlinear oscillator coupled to reservoir) have been investigated by means of master equation for the density matrix and quasiclassical Fokker--Planck equation in quasienergy space. We found that the system's statistical and kinetic properties drastically change when the quasienergy states become nearly degenerate and the occupation of the most excited state is strongly enhanced. It has been revealed that, in nearly degenerate case, a critical quasienergy parameter emerges. Below the critical quasienergy value the eigenstates are superpositions of the quasiclassical states from different phase-space regions, while above this value the eigenstates correspond to only one particular region of the phase space. We have also generalized Keldysh theory for ionization of atoms in the electromagnetic field for bistable systems. It has been demonstrated that Keldysh parameter in the bistability region is large when pumping intensity is smaller than the critical value. It has been shown by direct calculations that multiphoton transition amplitude coincides with the tunneling amplitude. So, multiphoton transitions and tunneling between the regions of the phase space are just the same effects. We also demonstrated that, for bistable systems, the Keldysh parameter logarithmically depends on the external field amplitude.
We considered the multiphoton resonance in the periodically driven quantum oscillator with Kerr nonlinearity in the presence of weak high-order nonlinearities. Multiphoton resonance leads to the emergence of peaks and dips in the dependence of the stationary occupations of the stable states on detuning. We demonstrated that due to high-order nonlinearities, these peaks and dips acquire additional fine structure and split into several closely spaced ones. Quasiclassically, multiphoton resonance is treated as tunneling between the regions of the oscillator phase portrait, and the fine structure of the multiphoton resonance is a consequence of a special quasienergy dependence of the tunneling rate between different regions of the classical phase portrait. For different values of damping and high-order nonlinearity coefficients, we identified the domain of quasienergies where tunneling strongly influences the system kinetics. The corresponding tunneling term in the Fokker-Planck equation in quasienergy space was derived directly from the quantum master equation.
The stabilizing effect of quantum fluctuations on the escape process and the relaxation dynamics from a quantum metastable state are investigated. Specifically, the quantum dynamics of a multilevel bistable system coupled to a bosonic Ohmic thermal bath in strong dissipation regime is analyzed. The study is performed by a non-perturbative method based on the real-time path integral approach of the Feynman-Vernon influence functional. We consider a strongly asymmetric double well potential with and without a monochromatic external driving, and with an out-of-equilibrium initial condition. In the absence of driving we observe a nonmonotonic behavior of the escape time from the metastable region, as a function both of the system-bath coupling coefficient and the temperature. This indicates a stabilizing effect of the quantum fluctuations. In the presence of driving our findings indicate that, as the coupling coefficient γ increases, the escape time, initially controlled by the external driving, shows resonant peaks and dips, becoming frequency-independent for higher γ values. Moreover, the escape time from the metastable state displays a nonmonotonic behavior as a function of the temperature, the frequency of the driving, and the thermal-bath coupling, which indicates the presence of a quantum noise enhanced stability phenomenon. Finally, we investigate the role of different spectral densities, both in sub-Ohmic and super-Ohmic dissipation regime and for different cutoff frequencies, on the relaxation dynamics from the quantum metastable state. The results obtained indicate that, in the crossover dynamical regime characterized by damped intrawell oscillations and incoherent tunneling, the spectral properties of the thermal bath influence non-trivially the short time behavior and the time scales of the relaxation dynamics from the metastable state.
We study switching between period-two states of an underdamped quantum oscillator modulated at nearly twice its natural frequency. For all temperatures and parameter values switching occurs via quantum activation: it is determined by diffusion over oscillator quasienergy, provided the relaxation rate exceeds the rate of interstate tunneling. The diffusion has quantum origin and accompanies relaxation to the stable state. We find the semiclassical distribution over quasienergy. For T=0, where the system has detailed balance, this distribution differs from the distribution for $T\ensuremath{\rightarrow}0$; the T=0 distribution is also destroyed by small dephasing of the oscillator. The characteristic quantum activation energy of switching displays a typical dependence on temperature and scaling behavior near the bifurcation point where period doubling occurs.
The spontaneous switching of a quantum particle between the wells of a double-well potential is a phenomenon of general interest to physics and chemistry. It was broadly believed that the switching rate decreases steadily as a function of the size of the energy barrier. This view was challenged by a recent experiment on a driven superconducting Kerr nonlinear oscillator (often called the Kerr-cat qubit or the Kerr parametric oscillator), whose energy barrier can be continuously increased by ramping up the drive. Remarkably, as the drive amplitude increases, the switching rate exhibits a steplike decrease termed the ``staircase.'' The view challenged by the experimental staircase demands a deep review of our understanding of the role of quantum effects in double wells. In this work, we use a Lindbladian model of dissipation to derive a semianalytical formula for the switching rate, resolving a continuous transition between tunneling-dominated dynamics and dissipation-dominated dynamics. These two dynamics are observed respectively in the flat part and the steep part of each step in the staircase. Our formula exposes two distinct dissipative processes that limit tunneling: the dephasing of interwell superpositions freezes tunneling via the quantum Zeno effect, and the decay from one excited state to another limits the time during which tunneling can be attempted. This physical understanding allows us to pinpoint the critical drive amplitude that separates the flat and steep part of each step using an equation involving the rates of the two dissipative processes and the tunnel splitting. In addition, analyzing the transition matrix elements in the formula shows that in the regime of a few ($\ensuremath{\lesssim}10$) states in the well and under moderate to low temperatures, highly excited states are populated predominantly via cascaded and direct thermal heating rather than quantum heating. At very low temperatures, we find that the perturbation induced by the non-Hermitian Hamiltonian part of the Lindbladian model becomes increasingly important and facilitates a form of quantum heating that has not been identified before. We numerically map the activation mechanism as a function of drive amplitude, damping rate, and temperature. Our theory deepens the understanding of switching dynamics between metastable quantum states, highlights the importance of a general interplay between tunneling and dissipation, and identifies a novel quantum regime in activated transitions.
We report a first-principles study of the driven dissipative dynamics for Kerr oscillators in the mesoscopic regime. This regime is characterized by large Kerr nonlinearity, realized here using the nonlinear kinetic inductance of a large array of Josephson junctions. The experimentally measured nonlinear resonance lineshapes of the junction array modes show significant deviations from steady-state numerical predictions, and necessitate time-dependent numerical simulations indicative of strong measurement-induced dephasing in the system arising from the large cross-Kerr effect between array modes. Analytical and numerical calculations of switching rate corroborate this by showing the emergence of a slow time scale, which is much longer than the linear decay rate and is set by fluctuation-induced switching times in the bistable regime. Furthermore, our analysis shows that the usual quantum-activated escape treatment is inadequate for prediction of the switching rates at large frequency shifts caused by strong nonlinearities, necessitating a quantum treatment that utilizes the full system Liouvillian. Based on our analysis, we identify a universal crossover parameter that delineates the regimes of validity of semiclassical and quantum descriptions, respectively. Our work shows how dynamical switching effects in strongly nonlinear systems provide a platform to study quantum-to-classical transitions.