Population transfer from the valence to conduction band in the presence of an intense laser field is explored theoretically in semiconductors and dielectrics. Experiments on intense laser driven dielectrics have revealed population transfer to the conduction band that differs from that seen in semiconductors. Our research explores two aspects of ionization in solids. (i) Current ionization theories neglect coupling between valence and conduction band and therewith the dynamic Stark shift. Our single-particle analysis identifies this as a potential reason for the different ionization behaviour. The dynamic Stark shift increases the bandgap with increasing laser intensities thus suppressing ionization to an extent where virtual population oscillation become dominant. The dynamic Stark shift plays a role dominantly in dielectrics which due to the large bandgap can be exposed to significantly higher laser intensities. (ii) In the presence of laser dressed virtual population of the conduction band, elastic collisions potentially transmute virtual into real population resulting in ionization. This process is explored in context of relaxation time approximation.

Ultracold neutral atoms confined in optical dipole traps have important applications in quantum computation and information processing, quantum simulators of interacting-many-body systems and atomic frequency metrology. While optical dipole traps are powerful tools for cold atom experiments, the energy level structures of the trapped atoms are shifted by the trapping field, and it is important to characterize these shifts in order to accurately manipulate and control the quantum state of the system. In order to measure the light shifts, we have designed a system that allows us to reliably trap individual 87Rb atoms. A non-destructive detection technique is employed so that the trapped atoms can be continuously observed for over 100 seconds. Single atom spectroscopy, trap frequency measurements, and temperature measurements are performed on single atoms in a single focus trap and small number of atoms in a 1D optical lattice in order to characterize the trapping environment, the perturbed energy level structures, and the probe-induced heating. In the second part of the thesis, we demonstrate deterministic delivery of an array of individual atoms to an optical cavity and selective addressability of individual atoms in a 1D optical conveyor, which serves as a potential candidate for scalable quantum information processing. The experiment is extended to a dual lattice system coupled to a single cavity with the capability of independent lattice control and addressability. The mutual interactions of atoms in different lattices mediated by a common cavity field are demonstrated. A semi-classical model in the many-atom regime based on the Jaynes-Cummings model is developed to describe the system that is in good qualitative agreement with the data. This work provides a foundation for developing multi-qubit quantum information experiments with a dual lattice cavity system.

abstract: The photosynthetic reaction center is a type of pigment-protein complex found widely in photosynthetic bacteria, algae and higher plants. Its function is to convert the energy of sunlight into a chemical form that can be used to support other life processes. The high efficiency and structural simplicity make the bacterial reaction center a paradigm for studying electron transfer in biomolecules. This thesis starts with a comparison of the primary electron transfer process in the reaction centers from the Rhodobacter shperoides bacterium and those from its thermophilic homolog, Chloroflexus aurantiacus. Different temperature dependences in the primary electron transfer were found in these two type of reaction centers. Analyses of the structural differences between these two proteins suggested that the excess surface charged amino acids as well as a larger solvent exposure area in the Chloroflexus aurantiacus reaction center could explain the different temperature depenence. The conclusion from this work is that the electrostatic interaction potentially has a major effect on the electron transfer. Inspired by these results, a single point mutant was designed for Rhodobacter shperoides reaction centers by placing an ionizable amino acid in the protein interior to perturb the dielectrics. The ionizable group in the mutation site largely deprotonated in the ground state judging from the cofactor absorption spectra as a function of pH. By contrast, a fast charge recombination assoicated with protein dielectric relaxation was observed in this mutant, suggesting the possibility that dynamic protonation/deprotonation may be taking place during the electron transfer. The fast protein dielectric relaxation occuring in this mutant complicates the electron transfer pathway and reduces the yield of electron transfer to QA. Considering the importance of the protein dielectric environment, efforts have been made in quantifying variations of the internal field during charge separation. An analysis protocol based on the Stark effect of reaction center cofactor spectra during charge separation has been developed to characterize the charge-separated radical field acting on probe chromophores. The field change, monitored by the dynamic Stark shift, correlates with, but is not identical to, the electron transfer kinetics. The dynamic Stark shift results have lead to a dynamic model for the time-dependent dielectric that is complementary to the static dielectric asymmetry observed in past steady state experiments. Taken together, the work in this thesis emphasizes the importance of protein electrostatics and its dielectric response to electron transfer. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Physics 2012

Abstract In this thesis we study the interaction between radiation and matter using superconducting circuits that behave analogously with the conventional photon-atom interaction in quantum optics. The research is done with a system consisting of a waveguide resonator (radiation) strongly coupled to a transmon device (matter). We focus on the phenomena caused by strong coupling between the radiation and matter, and by driving the resonator to higher excited states with a strong monochromatic radiation. These have been studied little in the traditional radiation-matter systems. Increasing the strength of the monochromatic radiation drive, the dynamics of the system experiences a transition from the quantum to the classical regime. Also, the free-particle states of the transmon start being populated. In the weak driving limit, the transmon can be regarded as a two-state system. As a consequence, the resonator-transmon system is conventionally discussed in terms of the linear Jaynes–Cummings model. However, for strong coupling the Bloch–Siegert shift, caused by the terms neglected in the Jaynes–Cummings model, is strong and the Jaynes–Cummings model is insufficient for describing the dynamics of the system. We study the effects caused by strong coupling and the excitation of the higher transmon states instigated by the driving of the resonator. With reflection spectroscopy, we measure the absorption spectrum of the system and compare this with the spectrum calculated numerically using the Floquet–Born–Markov approach. We find that, in the region of the quantum-to-classical transition, the two-state approximation for the transmon is insufficient and the higher transmon states are necessary for accurate simulations. By calculating the average resonator occupation, we compare different numerical models: the Lindblad master equation, the Floquet–Born–Markov, and the semiclassical model. Coupling a transmon to a resonator shifts the energy levels of the resonator. This shift in the energy levels prevents the higher resonator states from being populated if the system is weakly driven with a frequency that is near the resonance frequency of the resonator. We simulate this photon blockade numerically and show that the blockade is substantially different for the two-state and multistate transmon approximations. / Original papers Original papers are not included in the electronic version of the dissertation. Pietikäinen, I., Danilin, S., Kumar, K. S., Vepsäläinen, A., Golubev, D. S., Tuorila, J., & Paraoanu, G. S. (2017). Observation of the Bloch-Siegert shift in a driven quantum-to-classical transition. Physical Review B, 96(2). https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.96.020501 http://jultika.oulu.fi/Record/nbnfi-fe201803073899 Pietikäinen, I., Danilin, S., Kumar, K. S., Tuorila, J., & Paraoanu, G. S. (2018). Multilevel Effects in a Driven Generalized Rabi Model. Journal of Low Temperature Physics, 191(5–6), 354–364. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10909-018-1857-8 http://jultika.oulu.fi/Record/nbnfi-fe2018061325770 Pietikäinen, I., Tuorila, J., Golubev, D. S., & Paraoanu, G. S. (2019) Quantum-to-classical transition in the driven-dissipative Josephson pendulum coupled to a resonator, Manuscript. https://arxiv.org/abs/1901.05655

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