Dynamics of a two-level system coupled with a quantum oscillator in the very strong coupling limit

TL;DR

This paper investigates the complex dynamics of a two-level quantum system strongly coupled to an oscillator, revealing staircase-like transition probabilities and the interplay of adiabatic and non-adiabatic regimes in the very strong coupling limit.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of the time-dependent behavior of a strongly coupled two-level system and oscillator, highlighting new insights into transition dynamics in this regime.

Findings

Oscillator coordinate amplitude decreases during level transition

Transfer probability exhibits staircase-like behavior

System dynamics resemble a quantum Landau-Zener model

Abstract

The time-dependent behavior of a two-level system interacting with a quantum oscillator system is analyzed in the case of a coupling larger than both the energy separation between the two levels and the energy of quantum oscillator ($\Omega < \omega < \lambda $, where $\Omega $ is the frequency of the transition between the two levels, $\omega $ is the frequency of the oscillator, and $\lambda $ is the coupling between the two-level system and the oscillator). Our calculations show that the amplitude of the expectation value of the oscillator coordinate decreases as the two-level system undergoes the transition from one level to the other, while the transfer probability between the levels is staircase-like. This behavior is explained by the interplay between the adiabatic and the non-adiabatic regimes encountered during the dynamics with the system acting as a quantum counterpart of the Landau-Zener model. The transition between the two levels occurs as long as the expectation value of the oscillator coordinate is driven close to zero. On the contrary, if the initial conditions are set such that the expectation values of the oscillator coordinate are far from zero, the system will remain locked on one level.