Multi-Directional Periodic Driving of a Two-Level System beyond Floquet Formalism
AI Breakdown
Get a structured breakdown of this paper — what it's about, the core idea, and key takeaways for the field.
Abstract
In this manuscript, we introduce an exact expression for the response of a semi-classical two-level quantum system subject to arbitrary periodic driving. Determining the transition probabilities of a two-level system driven by an arbitrary periodic waveform necessitates numerical calculations through methods such as Floquet theory, requiring the truncation of an infinite matrix. However, such truncation can lead to a loss of significant interference information, hindering quantum sensors or introducing artifacts in quantum control. To alleviate this issue, we use the $\star$-resolvent formalism with the path-sum theorem to determine the exact series solution to Schrödinger's equation, therefore providing the exact transition probability. The resulting series solution is generated from a compact kernel expression containing all of the information of the periodic drive and then expanded in a non-harmonic Fourier series basis given by the divided difference of complex exponentials with coefficients corresponding to products of generalized Bessel functions. The present method provides an analytical formulation for quantum sensors and control applications.