Accelerated quantum control using superadiabatic dynamics in a solid-state lambda system

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the use of superadiabatic transitionless driving to accelerate quantum state transfer in a solid-state NV center, showing robustness and potential for quantum control in noisy environments.

Contribution

It introduces a novel superadiabatic shortcut technique to speed up quantum adiabatic processes in solid-state systems, improving robustness against dissipation and uncertainties.

Findings

Accelerated population transfer using SATD in NV centers.

Robustness of SATD protocols to dissipation and experimental noise.

Optimized shortcut trajectories enhance quantum control performance.

Abstract

Adiabatic evolutions find widespread utility in applications to quantum state engineering, geometric quantum computation, and quantum simulation. Although offering robustness to experimental imperfections, adiabatic processes are susceptible to decoherence due to their long evolution time. A general strategy termed "shortcuts to adiabaticity" (STA) aims to remedy this vulnerability by designing fast dynamics to reproduce the results of slow, adiabatic evolutions. Here, we implement a novel STA technique known as "superadiabatic transitionless driving" (SATD) to speed up stimulated Raman adiabatic passage (STIRAP) in a solid-state lambda ({\Lambda}) system. Utilizing optical transitions to a dissipative excited state in the nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond, we demonstrate the accelerated performance of different shortcut trajectories for population transfer and for the initialization and transfer of coherent superpositions. We reveal that SATD protocols exhibit robustness to dissipation and experimental uncertainty, and can be optimized when these effects are present. These results motivate STA as a promising tool for controlling open quantum systems comprising individual or hybrid nanomechanical, superconducting, and photonic elements in the solid state.