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Title: Equivalence between Redfield- and master-equation approaches for a time-dependent quantum system and coherence control

Journal Article · · Physical Review. A
; ; ;  [1]; ; ;  [2]
  1. Instituto de Fisica de Sao Carlos, Universidade de Sao Paulo, Caixa Postal 369, 13560-970 Sao Carlos, Sao Paulo (Brazil)
  2. Centro de Ciencias Naturais e Humanas, Universidade Federal do ABC, R. Santa Adelia 166, 09210-170 Santo Andre, Sao Paulo (Brazil)

We present a derivation of the Redfield formalism for treating the dissipative dynamics of a time-dependent quantum system coupled to a classical environment. We compare such a formalism with the master equation approach where the environments are treated quantum mechanically. Focusing on a time-dependent spin-1/2 system we demonstrate the equivalence between both approaches by showing that they lead to the same Bloch equations and, as a consequence, to the same characteristic times T{sub 1} and T{sub 2} (associated with the longitudinal and transverse relaxations, respectively). These characteristic times are shown to be related to the operator-sum representation and the equivalent phenomenological-operator approach. Finally, we present a protocol to circumvent the decoherence processes due to the loss of energy (and thus, associated with T{sub 1}). To this end, we simply associate the time dependence of the quantum system to an easily achieved modulated frequency. A possible implementation of the protocol is also proposed in the context of nuclear magnetic resonance.

OSTI ID:
21550086
Journal Information:
Physical Review. A, Vol. 83, Issue 6; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.83.062336; (c) 2011 American Institute of Physics; ISSN 1050-2947
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English