Phase-controlled coherent population trapping in superconducting quantum circuits**Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 11165008 and 11365009), the Foundation of Young Scientist of Jiangxi Province, China (Grant No. 20142BCB23011), and the Scientific Research Foundation of Jiangxi Provincial Department of Education (Grant No. GJJ13348).

Abstract

We investigate the influences of the-applied-field phases and amplitudes on the coherent population trapping behavior in superconducting quantum circuits. Based on the interactions of the microwave fields with a single Δ-type three-level fluxonium qubit, the coherent population trapping could be obtainable and it is very sensitive to the relative phase and amplitudes of the applied fields. When the relative phase is tuned to 0 or π, the maximal atomic coherence is present and coherent population trapping occurs. While for the choice of π/2, the atomic coherence becomes weak. Meanwhile, for the fixed relative phase π/2, the value of coherence would decrease with the increase of Rabi frequency of the external field coupled with two lower levels. The responsible physical mechanism is quantum interference induced by the control fields, which is indicated in the dressed-state representation. The microwave coherent phenomenon is present in our scheme, which will have potential applications in optical communication and nonlinear optics in solid-state devices.