Adiabatic quantum search with atoms in a cavity driven by lasers

We propose an implementation of the quantum search algorithm of a marked item in an unsorted list of N items by adiabatic passage in a cavity-laser-atom system. We use an ensemble of N identical three-level atoms trapped in a single-mode cavity and driven by two lasers. In each atom, the same level represents a database entry. One of the atoms is marked by having an energy gap between its two ground states. Appropriate time delays between the two laser pulses allow one to populate the marked state starting from an initial entangled state within a decoherence-free adiabatic subspace. The time to achieve such a process is shown to exhibit the Grover speedup.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Quantum search by parallel eigenvalue adiabatic passage

We propose a strategy to achieve the Grover search algorithm by adiabatic passage in a very efficient way. An adiabatic process can be characterized by the instantaneous eigenvalues of the pertaining Hamiltonian, some of which form a gap. The key to the efficiency is based on the use of parallel eigenvalues. This allows us to obtain non-adiabatic losses which are exponentially small, independently of the number of items in the database in which the search is performed.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure

On the topology of adiabatic passage

We examine the topology of eigenenergy surfaces characterizing the population transfer processes based on adiabatic passage. We show that this topology is the essential feature for the analysis of the population transfers and the prediction of its final result. We reinterpret diverse known processes, such as stimulated Raman adiabatic passage (STIRAP), frequency-chirped adiabatic passage and Stark-chirped rapid adiabatic passage (SCRAP). Moreover, using this picture, we display new related possibilities of transfer. In particular, we show that we can selectively control the level which will be populated in STIRAP process in Lambda or V systems by the choice of the peak amplitudes or the pulse sequence

Fast and robust population transfer in two-level quantum systems with dephasing noise and/or systematic frequency errors

We design, by invariant-based inverse engineering, driving fields that invert the population of a two-level atom in a given time, robustly with respect to dephasing noise and/or systematic frequency shifts. Without imposing constraints, optimal protocols are insensitive to the perturbations but need an infinite energy. For a constrained value of the Rabi frequency, a flat $\pi$ pulse is the least sensitive protocol to phase noise but not to systematic frequency shifts, for which we describe and optimize a family of protocols.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figure

Quantum Plasmonics with multi-emitters: Application to adiabatic control

We construct mode-selective effective models describing the interaction of N quantum emitters (QEs) with the localised surface plasmon polaritons (LSPs) supported by a spherical metal nanoparticle (MNP) in an arbitrary geometric arrangement of the QEs. We develop a general formulation in which the field response in the presence of the nanosystem can be decomposed into orthogonal modes with the spherical symmetry as an example. We apply the model in the context of quantum information, investigating on the possibility of using the LSPs as mediators of an efficient control of population transfer between two QEs. We show that a Stimulated Raman Adiabatic Passage configuration allows such a transfer via a decoherence-free dark state when the QEs are located on the same side of the MNP and very closed to it, whereas the transfer is blocked when the emitters are positioned at the opposite sides of the MNP. We explain this blockade by the destructive superposition of all the interacting plasmonic modes

Laser control for the optimal evolution of pure quantum states

Starting from an initial pure quantum state, we present a strategy for reaching a target state corresponding to the extremum (maximum or minimum) of a given observable. We show that a sequence of pulses of moderate intensity, applied at times when the average of the observable reaches its local or global extremum, constitutes a strategy transferable to different control issues. Among them, post-pulse molecular alignment and orientation are presented as examples. The robustness of such strategies with respect to experimentally relevant parameters is also examined.Comment: 16 pages, 9 figure

Reaching optimally oriented molecular states by laser kicks

We present a strategy for post-pulse orientation aiming both at efficiency and maximal duration within a rotational period. We first identify the optimally oriented states which fulfill both requirements. We show that a sequence of half-cycle pulses of moderate intensity can be devised for reaching these target states.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Optimized time-dependent perturbation theory for pulse-driven quantum dynamics in atomic or molecular systems

We present a time-dependent perturbative approach adapted to the treatment of intense pulsed interactions. We show there is a freedom in choosing secular terms and use it to optimize the accuracy of the approximation. We apply this formulation to a unitary superconvergent technique and improve the accuracy by several orders of magnitude with respect to the Magnus expansion.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure

Field-free two-direction alignment alternation of linear molecules by elliptic laser pulses

We show that a linear molecule subjected to a short specific elliptically polarized laser field yields postpulse revivals exhibiting alignment alternatively located along the orthogonal axis and the major axis of the ellipse. The effect is experimentally demonstrated by measuring the optical Kerr effect along two different axes. The conditions ensuring an optimal field-free alternation of high alignments along both directions are derived.Comment: 5 pages, 4 color figure

Phase Transition in a One-Dimensional Extended Peierls-Hubbard Model with a Pulse of Oscillating Electric Field: III. Interference Caused by a Double Pulse

In order to study consequences of the differences between the ionic-to-neutral and neutral-to-ionic transitions in the one-dimensional extended Peierls-Hubbard model with alternating potentials for the TTF-CA complex, we introduce a double pulse of oscillating electric field in the time-dependent Schr\"odinger equation and vary the interval between the two pulses as well as their strengths. When the dimerized ionic phase is photoexcited, the interference effect is clearly observed owing to the coherence of charge density and lattice displacements. Namely, the two pulses constructively interfere with each other if the interval is a multiple of the period of the optical lattice vibration, while they destructively interfere if the interval is a half-odd integer times the period, in the processes toward the neutral phase. The interference is strong especially when the pulse is strong and short because the coherence is also strong. Meanwhile, when the neutral phase is photoexcited, the interference effect is almost invisible or weakly observed when the pulse is weak. The photoinduced lattice oscillations are incoherent due to random phases. The strength of the interference caused by a double pulse is a key quantity to distinguish the two transitions and to evaluate the coherence of charge density and lattice displacements.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figure