Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

arXiv:cond-mat/0510559 · Physical Review Letters

Continuous-Time Monitoring of Landau-Zener Interference in a Cooper-Pair Box

Mika A. Sillanpää, Teijo Lehtinen, Antti Paila, Yuriy Makhlin, Pertti Juhani Hakonen

Published May 9, 2006• 263 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Landau-Zener (LZ) tunneling can occur with a certain probability when crossing energy levels of a quantum two-level system are swept across the minimum energy separation. Here we present experimental evidence of quantum interference effects in solid-state LZ tunneling. We used a Cooper-pair box qubit where the LZ tunneling occurs at the charge degeneracy. By employing a weak nondemolition monitoring, we observe interference between consecutive LZ-tunneling events; we find that the average level occupancies depend on the dynamical phase. The system's unusually strong linear response is explained by interband relaxation. Our interferometer can be used as a high-resolution Mach-Zehnder-type detector for phase and charge.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.96.187002

Related papers

Landau–Zener transitions and Rabi oscillations in a Cooper-pair box: beyond two-level models

A. V. Parafilo, Mikhail N. Kiselev

We investigate quantum interference effects in a superconducting Cooper-pair box by taking into account the possibility of tunneling processes involving one and two Cooper pairs. The quantum dynamics is analyzed in a framework of three-level model. We compute Landau–Zener probabilities for a linear sweep of the gate charge and investigate Rabi oscillations in a periodically driven three-level system under in- and off-resonance conditions. It was shown that the Landau–Zener probabilities reveal two different patterns: “step”- and “beats”-like behaviors associated with the quantum interference effects. Control on these two regimes is provided by the change of the ratio between two characteristic time scales of the problem. We demonstrate through the analysis of a periodically driven three-level system, that if a direct transition between certain pairs of levels is allowed and fine-tuned to a resonance, the problem is mapped to the two-level Rabi model. If the transition between a pair of levels is forbidden, the off-resonance Rabi oscillations involving second order in tunneling processes are predicted. This effect can be observed by measuring a population difference slowly varying in time between the states of the Cooper-pair box characterized by the same parity.

arXiv:1807.11604•Low Temperature Physics•Dec 1, 2018•9 citations

Landau–Zener transitions and Rabi oscillations in a Cooper-pair box: beyond two-level models

Anton V. Parafilo, Mikhail N. Kiselev

We investigate quantum interference effects in a superconducting Cooper-pair box by taking into account the \npossibility of tunneling processes involving one and two Cooper pairs. The quantum dynamics is analyzed in a \nframework of three-level model. We compute Landau–Zener probabilities for a linear sweep of the gate charge \nand investigate Rabi oscillations in a periodically driven three-level system under in- and off-resonance conditions. It was shown that the Landau–Zener probabilities reveal two different patterns: “step”- and “beats”-like \nbehaviors associated with the quantum interference effects. Control on these two regimes is provided by change \nof the ratio between two characteristic time scales of the problem. We demonstrate through the analysis of a periodically driven three-level system, that if a direct transition between certain pairs of levels is allowed and finetuned to a resonance, the problem is mapped to the two-level Rabi model. If the transition between pair of levels \nis forbidden, the off-resonance Rabi oscillations involving second order in tunneling processes are predicted. \nThis effect can be observed by measuring a population difference slowly varying in time between the states of \nthe Cooper-pair box characterized by the same parity

•Jan 1, 2018•9 citations

Landau-Zener-Stückelberg interference in coherent charge oscillations of a one-electron double quantum dot

Takeshi Ota, Kenichi Hitachi, Koji Muraki

Landau-Zener (LZ) transition has received renewed interest as an alternative approach to control single-qubit states. An LZ transition occurs when a system passes through an avoided crossing that arises from quantum mechanical coupling of two levels, taking the system to a coherent superposition of the two states. Then, multiple LZ transitions induce interference known as Landau-Zener-Stückelberg (LZS) interference whose amplitude strongly depends on the velocity or adiabaticity of the passage. Here, we study the roles of LZ transitions and LZS interference in coherent charge oscillations of a one-electron semiconductor double quantum dot by time-domain experiments using standard rectangular voltage pulses. By employing density matrix simulations, we show that, in the standard setup using rectangular pulses, even a small distortion of the pulse can give rise to LZ transitions and hence LZS interference, which significantly enhances the measured oscillation amplitude. We further show experimentally that the nature of the coherent charge oscillations changes from Rabi-type to LZS oscillations with increasing pulse distortion. Our results thus demonstrate that it is essential to take into account LZS interference for both precise control of charge qubits and correct interpretation of measurement results.

Scientific Reports•Mar 29, 2018•16 citations

Real-time measurement of non-Hermitian Landau–Zener tunneling near band crossings

Lange Zhao, Shulin Wang, Chengzhi Qin +5 more

Landau–Zener (LZ) tunneling, i.e., the nonadiabatic level transition under strong parameter driving, is a fundamental concept in modern quantum mechanics. With the advent of non-Hermitian physics, research interest has been paid to the LZ tunneling involving level dissipations. However, experimental demonstrations of such an interesting non-Hermitian LZ problem remain yet elusive. By harnessing a synthetic temporal lattice using a fiber-loop circuit, we report on the first real-time measurement of non-Hermitian LZ tunneling in a dissipative two-band lattice model. An innovative approach based on mode interference is developed to measure the transient band occupancies, providing a powerful tool to explore the non-Hermitian LZ tunneling dynamics in non-orthogonal eigenmodes. We find that the loss does not change the final LZ tunneling probability but can highly affect the tunneling process by modifying the typical band occupancies oscillation behaviors. We initiate exploring intriguing LZ physics and measurements beyond the standard Hermitian paradigm, with potential applications in coherent quantum control and quantum technologies.

Advanced Photonics•Apr 11, 2025•2 citations

Observation of macroscopic Landau-Zener transitions in a superconducting device

A Izmalkov, M. Grajcar, E Il'ichev +7 more

A two-level system traversing a level anticrossing has a small probability to make a so-called Landau-Zener (LZ) transition between its energy bands, in deviation from simple adiabatic evolution. This effect takes on renewed relevance due to the observation of quantum coherence in superconducting qubits (macroscopic "Schrödinger cat" devices). We report an observation of LZ transitions in an Al three-junction qubit coupled to a Nb resonant tank circuit.

arXiv:cond-mat/0307506•Europhysics Letters (EPL)•Mar 1, 2004•65 citations

Coherent nonlinear low-frequency Landau–Zener tunneling induced by magnetic control of a spin qubit in a quantum wire

S. E. Mkam Tchouobiap, J. E. Danga, R.M. Keumo Tsiaze +1 more

This paper presents nonlinear Landau–Zener (LZ) tunneling of an electron spin in an accelerating optical parabolic potential, manifested in a heterostructure quantum wire subjected to a periodic magnetic field comprising a spike and a homogeneous part. In this context, driving the two states of a pure nonlinear two-level quantum bit (qubit) system through an avoided level crossing can result in nontrivial dynamics, especially with and without considering a parabolic confinement potential characterized by a curvature confinement potential. We report two striking nonadiabatic and adiabatic scenarios in low modulation frequency limit which appear when such strength modulation occurs. Firstly, the changes of the amplitude of the driving field without considering a parabolic confinement potential act as a perturbation which mixes the spin states. Here, the dynamical evolution of the tunneling probabilities of the nonadiabatic populations under investigation is analyzed. Secondly, for strong fields and strong dependence of a parabolic confinement potential, the two diabatic states do not cross but present anti-crossing phenomenon as the time tends to infinity, describing an adiabatic transition. However, if the field strength in a wire is weak enough, the level separation of a qubit state switches abruptly around the crossing point, and LZ tunneling applies to the whole dynamical range, from adiabatic to fully nonadiabatic crossing. Locally, the tunneling process can be seen as a two-level system (TLS) undergoing a Rabi oscillation. These results open new prospects for the use of quantum interferences in spin–based devices.

International Journal of Quantum Information•Sep 1, 2018•4 citations
Landau-Zener (LZ) tunneling can occur with a certain probability when crossing energy levels of a quantum two-level system are swept across the minimum energy separation. Here we present experimental evidence of quantum interference effects in solid-state LZ tunneling. We used a Cooper-pair box qubit where the LZ tunneling occurs at the charge degeneracy. By employing a weak nondemolition monitoring, we observe interference between consecutive LZ-tunneling events; we find that the average level occupancies depend on the dynamical phase. The system's unusually strong linear response is explained by interband relaxation. Our interferometer can be used as a high-resolution Mach-Zehnder-type detector for phase and charge.
We investigate quantum interference effects in a superconducting Cooper-pair box by taking into account the possibility of tunneling processes involving one and two Cooper pairs. The quantum dynamics is analyzed in a framework of three-level model. We compute Landau–Zener probabilities for a linear sweep of the gate charge and investigate Rabi oscillations in a periodically driven three-level system under in- and off-resonance conditions. It was shown that the Landau–Zener probabilities reveal two different patterns: “step”- and “beats”-like behaviors associated with the quantum interference effects. Control on these two regimes is provided by the change of the ratio between two characteristic time scales of the problem. We demonstrate through the analysis of a periodically driven three-level system, that if a direct transition between certain pairs of levels is allowed and fine-tuned to a resonance, the problem is mapped to the two-level Rabi model. If the transition between a pair of levels is forbidden, the off-resonance Rabi oscillations involving second order in tunneling processes are predicted. This effect can be observed by measuring a population difference slowly varying in time between the states of the Cooper-pair box characterized by the same parity.
We investigate quantum interference effects in a superconducting Cooper-pair box by taking into account the \npossibility of tunneling processes involving one and two Cooper pairs. The quantum dynamics is analyzed in a \nframework of three-level model. We compute Landau–Zener probabilities for a linear sweep of the gate charge \nand investigate Rabi oscillations in a periodically driven three-level system under in- and off-resonance conditions. It was shown that the Landau–Zener probabilities reveal two different patterns: “step”- and “beats”-like \nbehaviors associated with the quantum interference effects. Control on these two regimes is provided by change \nof the ratio between two characteristic time scales of the problem. We demonstrate through the analysis of a periodically driven three-level system, that if a direct transition between certain pairs of levels is allowed and finetuned to a resonance, the problem is mapped to the two-level Rabi model. If the transition between pair of levels \nis forbidden, the off-resonance Rabi oscillations involving second order in tunneling processes are predicted. \nThis effect can be observed by measuring a population difference slowly varying in time between the states of \nthe Cooper-pair box characterized by the same parity
Landau-Zener (LZ) transition has received renewed interest as an alternative approach to control single-qubit states. An LZ transition occurs when a system passes through an avoided crossing that arises from quantum mechanical coupling of two levels, taking the system to a coherent superposition of the two states. Then, multiple LZ transitions induce interference known as Landau-Zener-Stückelberg (LZS) interference whose amplitude strongly depends on the velocity or adiabaticity of the passage. Here, we study the roles of LZ transitions and LZS interference in coherent charge oscillations of a one-electron semiconductor double quantum dot by time-domain experiments using standard rectangular voltage pulses. By employing density matrix simulations, we show that, in the standard setup using rectangular pulses, even a small distortion of the pulse can give rise to LZ transitions and hence LZS interference, which significantly enhances the measured oscillation amplitude. We further show experimentally that the nature of the coherent charge oscillations changes from Rabi-type to LZS oscillations with increasing pulse distortion. Our results thus demonstrate that it is essential to take into account LZS interference for both precise control of charge qubits and correct interpretation of measurement results.
Landau–Zener (LZ) tunneling, i.e., the nonadiabatic level transition under strong parameter driving, is a fundamental concept in modern quantum mechanics. With the advent of non-Hermitian physics, research interest has been paid to the LZ tunneling involving level dissipations. However, experimental demonstrations of such an interesting non-Hermitian LZ problem remain yet elusive. By harnessing a synthetic temporal lattice using a fiber-loop circuit, we report on the first real-time measurement of non-Hermitian LZ tunneling in a dissipative two-band lattice model. An innovative approach based on mode interference is developed to measure the transient band occupancies, providing a powerful tool to explore the non-Hermitian LZ tunneling dynamics in non-orthogonal eigenmodes. We find that the loss does not change the final LZ tunneling probability but can highly affect the tunneling process by modifying the typical band occupancies oscillation behaviors. We initiate exploring intriguing LZ physics and measurements beyond the standard Hermitian paradigm, with potential applications in coherent quantum control and quantum technologies.
This paper presents nonlinear Landau–Zener (LZ) tunneling of an electron spin in an accelerating optical parabolic potential, manifested in a heterostructure quantum wire subjected to a periodic magnetic field comprising a spike and a homogeneous part. In this context, driving the two states of a pure nonlinear two-level quantum bit (qubit) system through an avoided level crossing can result in nontrivial dynamics, especially with and without considering a parabolic confinement potential characterized by a curvature confinement potential. We report two striking nonadiabatic and adiabatic scenarios in low modulation frequency limit which appear when such strength modulation occurs. Firstly, the changes of the amplitude of the driving field without considering a parabolic confinement potential act as a perturbation which mixes the spin states. Here, the dynamical evolution of the tunneling probabilities of the nonadiabatic populations under investigation is analyzed. Secondly, for strong fields and strong dependence of a parabolic confinement potential, the two diabatic states do not cross but present anti-crossing phenomenon as the time tends to infinity, describing an adiabatic transition. However, if the field strength in a wire is weak enough, the level separation of a qubit state switches abruptly around the crossing point, and LZ tunneling applies to the whole dynamical range, from adiabatic to fully nonadiabatic crossing. Locally, the tunneling process can be seen as a two-level system (TLS) undergoing a Rabi oscillation. These results open new prospects for the use of quantum interferences in spin–based devices.