Digital three-state adiabatic passage

Abstract

We explore protocols for three-state adiabatic passage where the tunnel matrix elements are varied digitally, rather than smoothly as is the case with conventional adiabatic passage. In particular, we focus on the STIRAP and related three-state schemes where the control is applied stepwise, with either equal spaced levels for the tunnel matrix elements or uniform pulse lengths. Our results show that the evolution typically shows the hallmarks of conventional adiabatic passage, although with additional resonances exhibiting no state transfer.