# Non-adiabatic losses from radio-frequency dressed cold atom traps: beyond the Landau-Zener model

## TL;DR

This paper calculates non-adiabatic decay rates in radio-frequency dressed cold atom traps using Fermi's Golden Rule, revealing that the Landau-Zener model overestimates transition rates in the adiabatic limit, impacting trap design.

## Contribution

It introduces a Fermi's Golden Rule-based method to accurately compute non-adiabatic losses, surpassing the semi-classical Landau-Zener approximation.

## Key findings

- Landau-Zener overestimates non-adiabatic transition rates.
- Fermi's Golden Rule provides more accurate decay rate calculations.
- Implications for optimizing Rabi frequency and magnetic field gradients.

## Abstract

Non-adiabatic decay rates for a radio-frequency dressed magnetic trap are calculated using Fermi's Golden Rule: that is, we examine the probability for a single atom to make transitions out of the dressed trap and into a continuum in the adiabatic limit, where perturbation theory can be applied. This approach can be compared to the semi-classical Landau-Zener theory of a resonant dressed atom trap, and it is found that, when carefully implemented, the Landau-Zener theory overestimates the rate of non-adiabatic spin flip transitions in the adiabatic limit. This indicates that care is needed when determining requirements on trap Rabi frequency and magnetic field gradient in practical atom traps.