Quantum adiabaticity is the evolution of a quantum system that remains close to an instantaneous eigenstate of a time-dependent Hamiltonian. Using Floquet formalism, we derive a rigorous sufficient condition for adiabaticity in closed, finite-dimensional periodically driven systems that is valid for arbitrarily many driving periods. The condition is stroboscopic and geometric, depending only on single-cycle information: the Fubini-Study length of the instantaneous eigenray and a quasienergy-separation measure extracted from the Floquet operator. We also formulate a state-targeted refinement that reduces conservativeness when only one adiabatic branch is relevant. Rather than synthesizing control pulses, the result provides a certification criterion for a given periodic protocol. We illustrate the criterion and contrast it with conventional instantaneous-gap conditions in three representative examples.

Close

PrevNext

View figure in article

• Adiabatic approximation