Rabi oscillations of optical modes in a waveguide with dynamic modulation

We investigate the optical Rabi oscillations in a dual-mode slab waveguide that undergoes a spatial–temporal refractive index modulation. Frequency conversion is induced during Rabi oscillations since dynamic modulation is employed. We also show that the contrast of Rabi oscillations can be controlled by the initial phase of dynamic modulation, which can be tuned arbitrarily from zero to unity as the phase varies. The contrast of zero corresponds to the dynamic supermodes and unity refers to complete Rabi oscillations. It suggests that the phase can be a new degree of freedom to control optical Rabi oscillations. This study may find applications in optical sensors, switches and mode converters.     

Maximization of the efficiency of the frequency conversion with a spin multiplet subjected to three frequency-correlated fields

We investigate theoretically the coherent resonant enhancement of three-field mixing processes in a nonlinear medium characterized by a spin multiplet. The discussion is based on the analytical steady-state solutions of the density matrix equation. These solutions do not assume simplified approximations concerning the number of levels or the relative magnitudes of the Rabi frequencies and relaxation rates. Consequently, they contain interference effects among single- and multiplequantum absorption and emission processes, and parametric processes. This makes it possible to maximize the efficiency and the resonant enhancement of the frequency conversion in a nonlinear medium by manipulating the degree of coherent mixing. The highest efficiency and resonant enhancement of the frequency conversion could be obtained if the three fields are strong, their coherent mixing is negligible, and the differences of the corresponding Rabi frequencies are small. If these differences are large, the conversion efficiency is maximized if the coherent mixing is maximized too. For a spin multiplet, the resonant enhancements of three-field mixing processes have strong temperature dependences and exhibit maximum values at optimum temperatures that are relatively high. Although the discussion is applied to a spin multiplet, it can also be extended to the general case of multilevel atomic systems.     

Ξ型三能级原子玻色-爱因斯坦凝聚体单模光场系统中双模原子激光的压缩性质

研究了Ξ型三能级原子玻色-爱因斯坦凝聚体单模光场系统中双模原子激光的压缩性质.结果表明:双模原子激光能被周期性压缩,并且具有量子Rabi振荡和崩塌-回复现象两种形式的振荡.最大压缩深度和崩塌-回复振荡频率主要依赖于光场与原子间相互作用强度,量子Rabi振荡频率主要由光场圆频率决定.     

Radiative coupling of intersubband transitions in GaAs/AlGaAs multiple quantum wells

Radiative coupling of resonantly excited intersubband transitions in GaAs/AlGaAs multiple quantum wells can have a strong impact on the coherent nonlinear optical response, as is shown by phase and amplitude resolved propagation studies of ultrashort electric field transients. Upon increasing the driving field amplitude, strong radiative coupling leads to a pronounced self-induced absorption, followed by a bleaching due to the onset of delayed Rabi oscillations. A many-particle theory including light propagation effects accounts fully for the experimental results.     

Tunneling dynamics of Bose-Einstein condensates with higher-order interactions in optical lattice

The nonlinear Landau-Zener tunneling and nonlinear Rabi oscillations of Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) with higher-order atomic interaction between the Bloch bands in an accelerating optical lattice are discussed. Within the two-level model, the tunneling probability of BEC with higher-order atomic interaction between Bloch bands is obtained. We finds that the tunneling rate is closely related to the higher-order atomic interaction. Furthermore, the nonlinear Rabi oscillations of BEC with higher-order atomic interaction between the bands are discussed by imposing a periodic modulation on the level bias. Analytical expressions of the critical higher-order atomic interaction for suppressing/enhancing the Rabi oscillations are obtained. It is shown that the critical value strongly depends on the modulation parameters (i.e., the modulation amplitude and frequency) and the strength of periodic potential.     

Control and coherence of the optical transition of single nitrogen vacancy centers in diamond

We demonstrate coherent control of the optical transition of single nitrogen-vacancy defect centers in diamond. On applying short resonant laser pulses, we observe optical Rabi oscillations with a half period as short as 1 ns, an order of magnitude shorter than the spontaneous emission time. By studying the decay of Rabi oscillations, we find that the decoherence is dominated by laser-induced spectral jumps. By using a low-power probe pulse as a detuning sensor and applying postselection, we demonstrate that spectral diffusion can be overcome in this system to generate coherent photons.     

The influence of surfaces and interfaces on coherent phonons in semiconductors

Experiments have shown that ultrafast optical excitation of semiconductors can produce oscillating changes in the optical properties of the material. The frequency of the oscillations in transmission or reflection usually matches one of the phonon modes, typically theq = 0 optical mode. These oscillations are known as coherent phonons. We discuss the role of surfaces and interfaces on the coherent phonon signal. We show that: (1) the coherent phonon signal can be used as a probe of the surface depletion field and (2) multiple interfaces as in a superlattice, can drastically alter the coherent phonon spectrum: screening of the modes in the superlattices is reduced and acoustic modes can now be excited.     

Nonlinear terahertz spectroscopy of semiconductor nanostructures

Nonlinear frequency conversion and electro-optic sampling allow for the generation and phase-resolved characterization of few-cycle pulses in the frequency range up to 50 THz. Electric field transients with amplitudes of up to several MV/cm are applied to study coherent nonlinear excitations of low-dimensional semiconductors. We report the first observation of Rabi oscillations on intersubband transitions of electrons in GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells. Frequency and phase of such oscillations are controlled in the 0.3- to 2.5-THz range via the strength and shape of the mid-infrared driving pulse. PACS 78.67.De; 73.21.Fg; 07.57.Hm; 42.65.Re     

Optical control of magnetic Feshbach resonances in Bose gases

We theoretically investigate optical control of magnetic Feshbach resonance in Bose gases with two optical fields. The two optical fields couple two ground states through an excited state. Compared with the usual single-optical scheme, two optical fields can greatly suppress the inelastic loss resulting from spontaneous emission by the destructive quantum interference. Using the mean field theory, the analytical formula of the scattering length is obtained. The results show that the scattering length can be modified in a large range by changing the Rabi frequency or the optical field frequency. The strong atom–molecule interaction has obvious effect on the scattering length.     

Spontaneous radiation of a two-level atom into multipole modes of a plasmonic nanoparticle

We consider the relaxation of an excited two-level system (TLS) positioned near a spherical plasmonic nanoparticle (NP). The transition frequency of the TLS is assumed to coincide with the frequency of the condensation point of NP plasmonic resonances. We show that the relaxation of the TLS excitation is a two-step process. Following an initial exponential decay, the TLS breaks in to Rabi oscillations. Depending upon the distance between the TLS and NP, the probability of the TLS being in the excited state exhibits either chaotic or nearly regular oscillations. In the latter case, the eigenfrequency of the TLS-NP system coincides with one of NP multipole modes.     

Nonlinear optical studies of the transient coherence in the Quantum Hall system

We review recent investigations of the femtosecond nonlinear optical response of the two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) in a strong magnetic field. We probe the Quantum Hall (QH) regime for filling factors ν∼1. Our focus is on the transient coherence induced via optical excitation and on its time evolution during early femtosecond timescales. We simultaneously study the interband and intraband coherence in this system by using a nonlinear spectroscopic technique, transient three-pulse four wave mixing optical spectroscopy, and a many-body theory. We observe striking differences in the temporal and spectral profile of the nonlinear optical signal between a modulation doped quantum well system (with the 2DEG) and a similar undoped quantum well (without a 2DEG). We attribute these qualitative differences to Coulomb correlations between the photoexcited electron-hole pairs and the 2DEG. We show, in particular, that intraband many-particle coherences assisted by the inter-Landau-level magnetoplasmon excitations of the 2DEG dominate the femtosecond nonlinear optical response. The most striking effect of these exciton-magnetoplasmon coherences is a large off-resonant four-wave-mixing signal in the case of very low photoexcited carrier densities, not observed in the undoped system, with strong temporal oscillations and unusually symmetric temporal profile.     

Parametric excitation of oscillatory states and symmetry in phase space

We study the excitation of nonlinear dissipative oscillator under influence of a monochromatic force at the level of a few quanta. With this purpose we consider an optical parametric oscillator combined with phase-modulation in which the oscillatory mode is excited through down-conversion process under a monochromatic laser field. The temporal Rabi oscillations of Fock states as well as the properties of oscillatory mode in phase space are studied with use of the Wigner functions.     

Photon Echo from Localized Excitons in Semiconductor Nanostructures

An overview on photon echo spectroscopy under resonant excitation of the exciton complexes in semiconductor nanostructures is presented. The use of four-wave-mixing technique with the pulsed excitation and heterodyne detection allowed us to measure the coherent response of the system with the picosecond time resolution. It is shown that, for resonant selective pulsed excitation of the localized exciton complexes, the coherent signal is represented by the photon echoes due to the inhomogeneous broadening of the optical transitions. In case of resonant excitation of the trions or donor-bound excitons, the Zeeman splitting of the resident electron ground state levels under the applied transverse magnetic field results in quantum beats of photon echo amplitude at the Larmor precession frequency. Application of magnetic field makes it possible to transfer coherently the optical excitation into the spin ensemble of the resident electrons and to observe a long-lived photon echo signal. The described technique can be used as a high-resolution spectroscopy of the energy splittings in the ground state of the system. Next, we consider the Rabi oscillations and their damping under excitation with intensive optical pulses for the excitons complexes with a different degree of localization. It is shown that damping of the echo signal with increase of the excitation pulse intensity is strongly manifested for excitons, while on trions and donor-bound excitons this effect is substantially weaker.     

Continuous monitoring of Rabi oscillations in a Josephson flux qubit

Under resonant irradiation, a quantum system can undergo coherent (Rabi) oscillations in time. We report evidence for such oscillations in a continuously observed three-Josephson-junction flux qubit, coupled to a high-quality tank circuit tuned to the Rabi frequency. In addition to simplicity, this method of Rabi spectroscopy enabled a long coherence time of about 2.5 micros, corresponding to an effective qubit quality factor approximately 7000.     

Diverging rabi oscillations in subwavelength photonic lattices

We show that Rabi oscillations between Bloch modes of an optical waveguide array with subwavelength periodicity diverge, both in frequency and in field amplitude, when the optical wavelength approaches a mathematical exceptional point at which the Bloch mode becomes self-orthogonal.     

Small atomic displacements recorded in bismuth by the optical reflectivity of femtosecond laser-pulse excitations

Subtle atomic motion in a Bi crystal excited by a 35 fs-laser pulse has been recovered from the transient reflectivity of an optical probe measured with an accuracy of 10(-5). Analysis shows that a novel effect reported here-an initial negative drop in reflectivity-relates to a delicate coherent displacement of atoms by the polarization force during the pulse. We also show that reflectivity oscillations with a frequency coinciding with that of cold Bi are related to optical phonons excited by the electron temperature gradient through electron-phonon coupling.     

Laser-induced spectral broadening and hole-burning in rare earth doped crystals and coherent optical spectroscopy for frequency upconversion

The excitation spectra for linear fluorescence and for frequency upconversion are recorded in Er³⁺ doped crystal Er:YAG. An excitation induced spectral broadening and hole-burning are shown to appear at the resonant frequency of the linear fluorescence excitation spectrum, where the upconversion is simultaneously enhanced. Rate equation analysis is applied to model the optical pumping processes in the crystal. We present evidence that the induced resonance broadening and hole-burning are the result of excitation competition between the linear absorption and the excited state absorption. Femtosecond pulse pairs are applied to excite the linear and nonlinear frequency conversion, resulting in coherent controlled branching ratio between the linear and nonlinear frequency conversion. The experimental reasults are in good agreement with the numerical evaluation based on optical Bloch equation. PACS 78.47.+p; 42.65.Re; 78.20.Ci     

Rabi Oscillations and Coherence Dynamics in Terahertz Streaking-Assisted Photoelectron Spectrum

We present an approach,a Terahertz streaking-assisted photoelectron spectrum(THz SAPS),to achieve direct observations of ultrafast coherence dynamics with timescales beyond the pulse duration.Using a 24 fs probe pulse,the THz SAPS enables us to well visualize Rabi oscillations of 11.76 fs and quantum beats of 2.62 fs between the 5S_1/2 and 5P_3/2 in rubidium atoms.The numerical results show that the THz SAPS can simultaneously achieve high resolution in both frequency and time domains without the limitation of Heisenberg uncertainty of the probe pulse.The long probe pulse promises sufficiently high frequency resolution in photoelectron spectroscopy allowing to observe Autler-Townes splittings,whereas the streaking THz field enhances temporal resolution for not only Rabi oscillations but also quantum beats between the ground and excited states.The THz SAPS demonstrates a potential applicability for observation and manipulation of ultrafast coherence processes in frequency and time domains.     

Rabi oscillations of excitons in single quantum dots

Transient nonlinear optical spectroscopy, performed on excitons confined to single GaAs quantum dots, shows oscillations that are analogous to Rabi oscillations in two-level atomic systems. This demonstration corresponds to a one-qubit rotation in a single quantum dot which is important for proposals using quantum dot excitons for quantum computing. The dipole moment inferred from the data is consistent with that directly obtained from linear absorption studies. The measurement extends the artificial atom model of quantum dot excitonic transitions into the strong-field limit, and makes possible full coherent optical control of the quantum state of single excitons using optical pi pulses.     

Parametric control of a superconducting flux qubit

Parametric control of a superconducting flux qubit has been achieved by using two-frequency microwave pulses. We have observed Rabi oscillations stemming from parametric transitions between the qubit states when the sum of the two microwave frequencies or the difference between them matches the qubit Larmor frequency. We have also observed multiphoton Rabi oscillations corresponding to one- to four-photon resonances by applying single-frequency microwave pulses. The parametric control demonstrated in this work widens the frequency range of microwaves for controlling the qubit and offers a high quality testing ground for exploring nonlinear quantum phenomena of macroscopically distinct states.