Quantum system driven by rapidly varying periodic perturbation

Abstract

A quantum system driven by a high-frequency periodic perturbation is studied. By using the asymptotic expansions in terms of inverse powers of the driving frequency, a class of unitary time-dependent canonical transformations is defined which renders the transformed Hamiltonians time independent. One representative of those Hamiltonians is the quasienergy operator, which is explicitly derived up to the fourth order. The classical limit of the theory and the possibility of separating the mean-motion Hamiltonian is discussed. It is shown that this separation can consistently be carried out to higher orders only in the case of a uniform external force. The application of the method to unperturbed systems with regular confining and singular potentials is discussed by considering the examples of harmonic oscillator, particle in the double-well potential, and particle in the Coulomb potential.