Nonadiabatic Coherent Evolution of Two-Level Systems under Spontaneous Decay

Abstract

In this Letter we extend current perspectives in engineering reservoirs by producing a time-dependent master equation leading to a nonstationary superposition equilibrium state that can be nonadiabatically controlled by the system-reservoir parameters. Working with an ion trapped inside a nonideal cavity, we first engineer effective interactions, which allow us to achieve two classes of decoherence-free evolution of superpositions of the ground and excited ionic levels: those with a time-dependent azimuthal or polar angle. As an application, we generalize the purpose of an earlier study [Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 150403 (2006)10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.150403], showing how to observe the geometric phases acquired by the protected nonstationary states even under nonadiabatic evolution.