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Journal of Physics B Atomic Molecular and Optical Physics

Control of the populations and phases of two-level quantum systems by a single frequency-chirped laser pulse

András Csehi

Published Aug 19, 2019• 16 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Abstract We present an analytical electric field expression to simultaneously control the population and phase dynamics of two-level quantum systems. The presented electric field is obtained by a reverse engineering technique after the desired population and phase evolution pathways of the system have been specified. Upon application of this laser field, the system is driven from an arbitrary quantum state superposition to the desired population distribution; meanwhile the phase of one of the states proceeds according to a predefined path. The robustness of the engineered electric field is demonstrated by numerical simulations on the example of the 3s → 3p transition of atomic sodium. Furthermore, the limitations of the presented technique, which arise due to the application of the rotating wave approximation, are thoroughly analyzed and discussed.

DOI
10.1088/1361-6455/ab3c05

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Abstract We present an analytical electric field expression to simultaneously control the population and phase dynamics of two-level quantum systems. The presented electric field is obtained by a reverse engineering technique after the desired population and phase evolution pathways of the system have been specified. Upon application of this laser field, the system is driven from an arbitrary quantum state superposition to the desired population distribution; meanwhile the phase of one of the states proceeds according to a predefined path. The robustness of the engineered electric field is demonstrated by numerical simulations on the example of the 3s → 3p transition of atomic sodium. Furthermore, the limitations of the presented technique, which arise due to the application of the rotating wave approximation, are thoroughly analyzed and discussed.
In this paper, based on the idea of reverse engineering, we propose a scheme to find analytical expressions of a laser pulse that allows for controlling the evolution of two-level systems as desired, regardless of the time-dependent phase of the system. The pulse relates to particular functions that predefine the evolution of a system. For illustration, we present concrete examples of driving the system from an arbitrary initial state to a final state along the user-prescribed particular way in both closed and open quantum systems. Simulation results indicate that the desired evolutionary path is accurately obtained when the rotating wave approximation (RWA) is satisfied. Most importantly, the scheme allows us to maintain system coherence and populations even in the presence of certain dephasing and thermal noises. Thus it may naturally find applications in quantum computing and quantum memories.
Based on the idea of reverse engineering, we design an optimal laser pulse to control strong-field multiphoton atomic transitions. Starting from the time-dependent Schr\"odinger equation of the full system, we adiabatically eliminate the nonessential states and apply the rotating-wave approximation to arrive at an effective two-state representation that involves dynamic Stark shifts and multiphoton coupling. Solving this equation inversely for the field, we obtain an analytical laser pulse shape that is expected to induce the full system's evolution according to user-defined quantum pathways. In our procedure, the amplitude and phase of the laser pulse are engineered such that the dynamically shifted electronic states are resonantly coupled during the action of the pulse at each moment of time. As a result, the driven system evolves from an arbitrary initial population distribution to any desired final quantum state superposition at a predefined rate. The proposed scheme is demonstrated using the example of the $3s\ensuremath{\rightarrow}4s$ two-photon transition of atomic sodium. By solving the time-dependent Schr\"odinger equation of the single-active electron with two different methods, either propagating time-dependent coefficients of many field-free states or directly propagating the three-dimensional electronic wave packet on a grid, we demonstrate the robustness as well as the limitations of the presented reverse engineering scheme.
We apply reverse engineering to design laser pulse shapes for controlling the time evolution of strong-field transitions under environmental effects. Our effective two-state representation of the full quantum system involves dynamic Stark shifts and multiphoton Rabi frequency. Furthermore, the environment is modeled with dephasing and dissipative terms. Solving the master equation of the two-level density matrix inversely for the field, we obtain quasianalytic laser pulse shapes that simultaneously drive the populations and relative phase according to user-defined quantum pathways. The validity of the proposed scheme is demonstrated with the example of the $3s\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}4s$ two-photon transition of atomic sodium by solving the master equation of the multilevel system that incorporates effects beyond the adiabatic elimination and the rotating wave approximation. Due to the open character of the system, the proposed control is not always possible. We explore these situations and point out the conditions for creating steady states with large coherence.
We present a simple approach allowing one to obtain analytical expressions for laser pulses that can drive a two-level system in an arbitrarily chosen way. The proposed scheme relates every desired population-evolution path to a single resonant laser pulse. It allows one to drive the system from any initial superposition of the two states to a final state having the desired distribution of the populations. We exemplify the scheme with a concrete example, where the system is driven from a nonstationary superposition of states to one of its eigenstates. We argue that the proposed approach may have interesting applications for designing pulses that can control ultrafast charge-migration processes in molecules. Although focused on laser-driven population control, the results obtained are general and could be applied for designing other types of control fields.
We consider the simultaneous control of the relative phase and populations of two-level quantum systems by an external field. We apply a reverse engineering approach, obtaining an analytical expression for the control field depending upon two user-defined functions that dictate the population and the relative phase dynamics. We show that, in general, the prescribed functions for the dynamics cannot be chosen arbitrarily, but still there is plenty of room for choice. We illustrate the reverse engineering technique for several target states using different kinds of functions to specify the system dynamics. We show that by adjusting these dynamical functions, we produce different kinds of control fields. These controls can be easily built, needing, apart from the dynamical function themselves, only their first derivatives. The methodology presented here will certainly find many applications that go beyond simple two-level systems.
In this Letter, we propose a scheme to control the evolution of a two-level quantum system in the strong-coupling regime, based on the idea of reverse engineering. A coherent control field is designed to drive the system along a user-predefined evolution trajectory without utilizing the rotating-wave approximation. As concrete examples, we show that complete population inversion, an equally weighted coherent superposition, and even oscillation-like dynamics can be achieved. Since there are no limitations on the coupling strength between the control field and matter, the scheme is attractive for applications such as accelerating desired system dynamics and fast quantum information processing.