Stimulated Raman adiabatic passage in an open quantum system: Master equation approach

A master equation approach to the study of environmental effects in the adiabatic population transfer in three-state systems is presented. A systematic comparison with the non-Hermitian Hamiltonian approach shows that, in the weak-coupling limit, the two treatments lead to essentially the same results. In contrast, in the strong-damping limit the predictions are quite different: In particular, the counterintuitive sequences in the STIRAP scheme turn out to be much more efficient than expected before. This point is explained in terms of quantum Zeno dynamics.