Adiabatic passage in the presence of noise

TL;DR

This paper experimentally investigates how laser frequency noise and power affect the efficiency of rapid adiabatic passage in a trapped barium ion, highlighting the importance of laser linewidth and Rabi frequency for high fidelity state transfer.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the effects of laser noise on RAP effectiveness in trapped ion systems, emphasizing the need for optimized laser parameters.

Findings

High transfer fidelity requires small laser linewidth.

Large Rabi frequency improves population transfer.

Laser noise significantly impacts RAP efficiency.

Abstract

We report on an experimental investigation of rapid adiabatic passage (RAP) in a trapped barium ion system. RAP is implemented on the transition from the $6S_{1/2}$ ground state to the metastable $5D_{5/2}$ level by applying a laser at 1.76 $\mu$m. We focus on the interplay of laser frequency noise and laser power in shaping the effectiveness of RAP, which is commonly assumed to be a robust tool for high efficiency population transfer. However, we note that reaching high state transfer fidelity requires a combination of small laser linewidth and large Rabi frequency.