Experimental realization of stimulated Raman shortcut-to-adiabatic passage with cold atoms

TL;DR

This paper presents a theoretical and experimental demonstration of a shortcut-to-adiabatic protocol that accelerates stimulated Raman adiabatic passage (STIRAP) in cold atoms, achieving fast, high-fidelity, and robust quantum state transfer.

Contribution

It introduces a novel pulse-shaping method to implement a shortcut-to-adiabatic STIRAP, significantly reducing operation time while maintaining robustness and high fidelity.

Findings

Successfully demonstrated a faster STIRAP protocol in cold atoms

Achieved high-fidelity state transfer with robustness against control variations

Provided a practical all-optical method for rapid quantum control

Abstract

Accurate control of a quantum system is a fundamental requirement in many areas of modern science ranging from quantum information processing to high-precision measurements. A significantly important goal in quantum control is to prepare a desired state as fast as possible with sufficiently high fidelity allowed by available resources and experimental constraints. Stimulated Raman adiabatic passage (STIRAP) is a robust way to realize high-fidelity state transfer but it requires a sufficiently long operation time to satisfy the adiabatic criteria. We here theoretically propose and then experimentally demonstrate a shortcut-to-adiabatic protocol to speed up the STIRAP. By modifying the shapes of the Raman pulses, we experimentally realize a fast and high-fidelity stimulated Raman shortcut-to-adiabatic passage that is robust against control parameter variations. The all-optical, robust, and fast protocol demonstrated here provides an efficient and practical way to control quantum systems.