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RabicycleWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Rabicycle
FromWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Agreatvarietyofphysicalprocessesbelongingtotheareasofquantumcomputing,condensedmatter,atomicandmolecularphysics,andnuclearandparticlephysics
canbeconvenientlystudiedintermsoftwolevelquantummechanicalsystems.Inthiscase,oneoftheeffectsisrepresentedbytheoscillationsbetweenthetwoenergy
levels,asforexample,electronneutrinoemuonneutrinoflavourneutrinooscillations.Inphysics,theRabicycleisthecyclicbehaviourofatwostatequantum
systeminthepresenceofanoscillatorydrivingfield.Atwostatesystemhastwopossiblestates,andiftheyarenotdegenerate(i.e.equalenergy),thesystemcan
become"excited"whenitabsorbsaquantumofenergy.
Theeffectisimportantinquantumoptics,nuclearmagneticresonanceandquantumcomputing.ThetermisnamedinhonourofIsidorIsaacRabi.
Whenanatom(orsomeothertwolevelsystem)isilluminatedbyacoherentbeamofphotons,itwillcyclicallyabsorbphotonsandreemitthembystimulated
emission.OnesuchcycleiscalledaRabicycleandtheinverseofitsdurationtheRabifrequencyofthephotonbeam.
Thismechanismisfundamentaltoquantumoptics.ItcanbemodeledusingtheJaynesCummingsmodelandtheBlochvectorformalism.
Forexample,foratwostateatom(anatominwhichanelectroncaneitherbeintheexcitedorgroundstate)inanelectromagneticfieldwithfrequencytunedtothe
excitationenergy,theprobabilityoffindingtheatomintheexcitedstateisfoundfromtheBlochequationstobe:
,
where istheRabifrequency.
Moregenerally,onecanconsiderasystemwherethetwolevelsunderconsiderationarenotenergyeigenstates.Thereforeifthesystemisinitializedinoneofthese
levels,timeevolutionwillmakethepopulationofeachofthelevelsoscillatewithsomecharacteristicfrequency,whoseangularfrequency[1]isalsoknownastheRabi
frequency.ThestateofatwostatequantumsystemcanberepresentedasvectorsofatwodimensionalcomplexHilbertspace,whichmeanseverystatevector is
representedbytwocomplexcoordinates.
where and arethecoordinates.[2]

Ifthevectorsarenormalized, and arerelatedby

.Thebasisvectorswillberepresentedas

and

Allobservablephysicalquantitiesassociatedwiththissystemsare2 2Hermitianmatrices,whichmeanstheHamiltonianofthesystemisalsoasimilarmatrix.

Contents
1Howtoprepareanoscillationexperimentinaquantumsystem
2DerivationofRabiFormulainanNonperturbativeProcedurebymeansofthePaulimatrices
3RabioscillationinQuantumcomputing
4RabioscillationinAmmoniamaser
5Seealso
6References
7Externallinks

Howtoprepareanoscillationexperimentinaquantumsystem
Onecanconstructanoscillationexperimentconsistingoffollowingsteps:[3]
(1)Preparethesysteminafixedstatesay
(2)Letthestateevolvefreely,underaHamiltonianHfortimet
(3)FindtheprobabilityP(t),thatthestateisin
If wasaneigenstateofH,P(t)=1andtherearenooscillations.Alsoiftwostatesaredegenerate,everystateincluding isaneigenstateofH.Asaresultthereare
nooscillations.SoifHhasnodegenerateeigenstates,neitherofwhichis ,thentherewillbeoscillations.TheseprobabilitiesofoscillationsaregivenbyRabi
Formula.OscillationsbetweentwolevelsarecalledRabioscillation.ThemostgeneralformoftheHamiltonianofatwostatesystemisgiven

here,

and

arerealnumbers.Thismatrixcanbedecomposedas,

Thematrix isthe2 2identitymatrixandthematrices

especiallyinthetimeindependentcasewherethevaluesof
interactionHamiltonianforthissystemis

and

arethePaulimatrices.Thisdecompositionsimplifiestheanalysisofthesystem
areconstants.Considerthecaseofaspin1/2particleinamagneticfield

.The

.Where

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where isthemagnitudeoftheparticle'smagneticmoment, isGyromagneticratioand isthevectorofPaulimatrices.HereeigenstatesofHamiltonianare

eigenstatesof thatis and .Theprobabilitythatasysteminthestate willbefoundtobeinthearbitrarystate isgivenby
.Letsystem
initially

isinstate

thatiseigenstateof

.Thatis

.HereHamiltonianistimeindependent.

SobysolvingtimeindependentSchrdingerequation,wegetstateaftertimetisgivenby
aftertimetisgivenby

,whereEisthetotalenergyofsystem.Sothestate

.Nowsupposespinismeasuredinthexdirectionattimet,theprobabilityoffindingspinupis

givenby

where isacharacteristicangularfrequencygivenby
.[4]SointhiscaseprobabilityoffindingspinupstateinXdirectionisoscillatoryintimetwhen

whereithasbeenassumedthat

systemisinitiallyinZdirection.SimilarlyifwemeasurespininZdirectionthenprobabilityoffinding ofthesystemis .Inthecase

,thatiswhenthe

Hamiltonianisdegeneratethereisnooscillation.SowecanconcludethatiftheeigenstateofanabovegivenHamiltonianrepresentsthestateofasystem,then
probabilityofthesystembeingthatstateisnotoscillatory,butifwefindprobabilityoffindingthesysteminotherstate,itisoscillatory.Thisistrueforeventime
dependentHamiltonian.Forexample

,theprobabilitythatameasurementofsysteminYdirectionattimetresultsin

is

.[5]

,whereinitialstateisin

ExampleofRabiOscillationbetweentwostatesinionizedhydrogenmolecule.
Ionizedhydrogenmoleculeiscomposedoftwoproton and andoneelectron.Thetwo
protonsbecauseoftheirlargemassescanbeconsideredtobefixed.LetuscallRbethe
distancebetweenthemand and thestateswheretheelectronislocalisedaround or
.Assume,atacertaintime,theelectronislocalisedaboutproton .Accordingtothe
resultsofprevioussectionweknowitwilloscillatebetweenthetwoprotonswithafrequency
equaltotheBohrfrequencyassociatedwithtwostationarystate
and
ofmolecule.
Thisoscillationoftheelectronbetweenthetwostatescorrespondstoanoscillationofthemean
valueoftheelectricdipolemomentofthemolecule.Thuswhenthemoleculeisnotina
stationarystate,anoscillatingelectricdipolemomentcanappear.Suchanoscillating
dipolemomentcanexchangeenergywithanelectromagneticwaveofsamefrequency.
Consequently,thisfrequencymustappearintheabsorptionandemissionspectrumofIonized
hydrogenmolecule.

DerivationofRabiFormulainanNonperturbativeProcedurebymeansofthePaulimatrices
LetusconsideraHamiltonianintheform

Theeigenvaluesofthismatrixaregivenby

and
.Where

and

.sowecantake

.
Noweigenvectorfor

canbefoundfromequation:

So

Usingnormalisationconditionofeigenvector,
.So

Let

and

Soweget

.so

.Thatis

.Takingarbitraryphaseangle ,wecanwrite

.Similarly

.
Soeigenvectorfor

eigenvalueisgivenby

Asoverallphaseisimmaterialsowecanwrite
Similarlywecanfindeigenvectorfor
Fromthesetwoequations,wecanwrite

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabi_cycle

valueandweget

.
and

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Letattimet=0,systembein

ThatIs

Stateofsystemaftertimetisgivenby
Nowasystemisinoneoftheeigenstates

.
or

,itwillremainthesamestate,howeverinageneralstateasshownabovethetimeevolutionisnontrivial.

Theprobabilityamplitudeoffindingthesystemattimetinthestate
Nowtheprobabilitythatasysteminthestate

isgivenby

willbefoundtobeinthearbitrarystate

isgivenby

Bysimplifying

.........(1).

Thisshowsthatthereisafiniteprobabilityoffindingthesysteminstate
frequency

whenthesystemisoriginallyinthestate

.Theprobabilityisoscillatorywithangular

,whichissimplyuniqueBohrfrequencyofthesystemandalsocalledRabifrequency.Theformula(1)isknownas

Rabiformula.Nowaftertimettheprobabilitythatthesysteminstate

isgivenby

,whichisalso

oscillatory.ThistypeofoscillationsbetweentwolevelsarecalledRabioscillationandseeninmanyproblemssuchasNeutrinooscillation,ionizedHydrogen
molecule,Quantumcomputing,Ammoniamaseretc.

RabioscillationinQuantumcomputing
Anytwostatesystemiscalledqubit.LetaSpinhalfsystembeplacedinaclassicalmagneticfieldwithperiodiccomponentsuchas
.TheHamiltonianofsystem(proton)ofmagneticmoment infield isgiven
,where

andb

isgyromagneticratioofproton.Onecanfind

eigenvalueandeigenvectoroftheHamiltonianbyabovementionedprocedure.Letattimet=0thequbitisinthestate
ofbeingfoundinstate
betweenthelevels

givenby

and

where

hasmaximumamplitudefor

adjustthetimetduringwhichtherotatingfieldactssuchas
obtainasuperpositionof

and

.Inparticular

.ThisisthephenomenonofRabioscillation.Theoscilltion

thatisatresonance.So
or
,wehavea pulse:

,attimetitwillhaveaprobability

.Togofromstate

tostate

.Thisiscalleda pulse.Ifatimeintermediatebetween0and

itissufficientto
ischosen,we

.Thisoperationhascrucialimportanceinquantumcomputing.

Theequationsareessentiallyidenticalinthecaseofatwolevelatominthefieldofalaserwhenthegenerallywellsatisfiedrotatingwaveapproximationismade.Then
istheenergydifferencebetweenthetwoatomiclevels, isthefrequencyoflaserwaveandRabifrequency isproportionaltotheproductofthetransition
electricdipolemomentofatom andelectricfield ofthelaserwavethatis
.Insummary,Rabioscillationsarethebasicprocessusedtomanipulate
qubits.Theseoscillationsareobtainedbyexposingqubitstoperiodicelectricormagneticfieldsduringsuitablyadjustedtimeintervals.[6]

RabioscillationinAmmoniamaser
Inmolecularphysics,awellknownexampleofatwostatesystemisanitrogenatominthedoublewellpotentialofanammoniamolecule.Thetunnelsplittingofthe
ammoniaNH3moleculefindsapplicationintheammoniaMASER,anacronymforMicrowaveAmplificationofStimulatedEmissionofRadiation,similarlyas
LASERisanacronymforLightAmplification.WhilemagneticinteractionsoftheNH3moleculesarenegligible,themoleculesdipolemomentsareverysensitiveto
externalelectricfields.Aprominentcauseforthesplittingofenergylevelsisthetunneleffect.AsanexampleweregardtheammoniamoleculeNH3.Ifwesqueeze
thenitrogenatomalongthezaxisthroughtheequilateraltriangleformedbythehydrogenatoms,thentheNatomseesadoublewellpotentialV(z).TheNatomcan
beoneithersideoftheplaneoftheHatoms.HencetheNH3moleculeformsatwostatesystemwithtwobasisstatesorspatialeigenstates and
withthe
nitrogenatomononesideortheotheroftheplaneofhydrogenatoms,anditsenergygroundandfirstexcitedstates and arethesymmetricandantisymmetric
quantumsuperpositionsofthespatialeigenstates(ignoringrotationalandvibrationalstates).ThesystemcanchangefromLtoRandbackbecausethereisacertain
probabilityamplitudeAthatthenitrogenatomtunnelsthroughthecentralpotentialbarriertotheotherwell.Theammoniamaserisbaseduponthetransitionbetween
theenergyeigenstates,whichmayalsobedescribedastheRabioscillationbetweenthespatialeigenstates.However,theinversiontransitionisseenonlyatlowgas
pressure.Asthegaspressureisincreased,thetransitionbroadens,shiftstolowerfrequencyandthenquenches(thefrequencygoestozero).Theammoniamolecule
appearstoundergospatiallocalisationasaresultofinteractionwiththeenvironment.Thiswouldbeofimmensetheoreticalinterest.Inchemistryandintheclassical
worldgenerally,enantiomorphicmoleculeswithdistinguishablespatialeigenstates and
arealwaysfoundintheirspatialeigenstates(classicalbehaviour)rather
thantheirenergygroundstates(quantumbehaviour).Whilstammoniaisnotenantiomorphic,itdoesappeartoshowbothbehaviours,quantumatlowpressureand
classicalathighpressure,ifthequenchingisconsideredtobeadirectobservationoflocalisationorcollapseofthewavefunctionintoaspatialeigenstate.Withinthe
contextofthedecoherenceprogramme,ithasbeentreatedquantitativelyinthatway.Thebroadening,shiftandquenchingoftheRabioscillationaresimply
consequencesofimpactsandmaybedescribedwithintheframeworkofanoscillatorsubjecttowhitenoisefromtheenvironment.Thereisnoevidenceforlocalisation
ontospatialeigenstates.[7]

Seealso
Atomiccoherence
Blochsphere
Laserpumping
Opticalpumping
Rabiproblem
VacuumRabioscillation
Neutralparticleoscillation

References
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1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

RabicycleWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

EncyclopediaofLaserPhysicsandTechnologyRabioscillations,Rabifrequency,stimulatedemission(http://www.rpphotonics.com/rabi_oscillations.html)
Griffiths,David(2005).IntroductiontoQuantumMechanics(2nded.).p.353.
SourenduGupta(27August2013)."Thephysicsof2statesystems"(http://theory.tifr.res.in/~sgupta/courses/qm2013/hand5.pdf)(PDF).TataInstituteofFundamentalResearch.
Griffiths,David(2012).IntroductiontoQuantumMechanics(2nded.)p.191.
Griffiths,David(2012).IntroductiontoQuantumMechanics(2nded.)p.196ISBN9788177582307
AShortIntroductiontoQuantumInformationandQuantumComputationbyMichelLeBellac,ISBN9780521860567
"au:Herbauts_Iin:quantphSciRateSearch"(https://scirate.com/search?q=au:Herbauts_I+in:quantph).SciRate.

QuantumMechanicsVolume1byC.CohenTannoudji,BernardDiu,FrankLaloe,ISBN9780471164333
AShortIntroductiontoQuantumInformationandQuantumComputationbyMichelLeBellac,ISBN9780521860567
TheFeynmanLecturesonPhysicsVol3byRichardP.Feynman&R.B.Leighton,ISBN9788185015842
ModernApproachToQuantumMechanicsbyJohnSTownsend,ISBN9788130913148

Externallinks
AJavaappletthatvisualizesRabiCyclesoftwostatesystems(laserdriven)(http://www.itp.tu
berlin.de/menue/lehre/owl/quantenmechanik/zweiniveau/parameter/en/)
extendedversionoftheapplet.Includeselectronphononinteraction(http://www.itp.tuberlin.de/menue/lehre/owl/quantenmechanik/elektronphonon
wechselwirkung/parameter/en/)
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Categories: Quantumoptics Atomicphysics
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