Singularities of Floquet scattering and tunneling

Abstract

We study quasi-bound states and scattering with short range potentials in three dimensions, subject to an axial periodic driving. We find that poles of the scattering S-matrix can cross the real energy axis as a function of the drive amplitude, making the S-matrix nonanalytic at a singular point. For the corresponding quasi-bound states that can tunnel out of (or get captured within) a potential well, this results in a discontinuous jump in both the angular momentum and energy of emitted (absorbed) waves. We also analyze elastic and inelastic scattering of slow particles in the time dependent potential. For a drive amplitude at the singular point, there is a total absorption of incoming low energy (s-wave) particles and their conversion to high energy outgoing (mostly p-) waves. We examine the relation of such Floquet singularities, lacking in an effective time independent approximation, with well known "spectral singularities" (or "exceptional points"). These results are based on an analytic approach for obtaining eigensolutions of time-dependent periodic Hamiltonians with mixed cylindrical and spherical symmetry, and apply broadly to particles interacting via power law forces and subject to periodic fields, e.g. co-trapped ions and atoms.