Anomalous Rabi oscillations in multilevel quantum systems

TL;DR

This paper reveals that in multilevel quantum systems, strong pulses induce Rabi oscillations governed by energy differences rather than pulse area, enabling robust state preparation and spectroscopy.

Contribution

It introduces a novel understanding of Rabi oscillations in multilevel systems and proposes their use for robust quantum state control and spectroscopy.

Findings

Oscillation frequency depends on energy differences, not pulse area.

Strong pulses induce anomalous Rabi oscillations.

Method offers an alternative to adiabatic passage for state preparation.

Abstract

We show that the excitation probability of a state within a manifold of levels undergoes Rabi oscillations with frequency determined by the energy difference between the states and not by the pulse area for sufficiently strong pulses. The observed dynamics can be used as a procedure for robust state preparation as an alternative to adiabatic passage and as a useful spectroscopic method.