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Optimally driving multiphoton transitions in the perturbative single-mode regime

Frieder Lindel1,2,*,†, Stefan Yoshi Buhmann3, Andreas Buchleitner2,4,‡, and Edoardo G. Carnio2,4,§,∥

  • *Contact author: flindel@phys.ethz.ch
  • †Present address: Institute for Theoretical Physics, ETH Zürich, Zürich 8093, Switzerland.
  • ‡Contact author: andreas.buchleitner@physik.uni-freiburg.de
  • §Contact author: e.carnio@neqxt.org
  • ∥Present address: neQxt, Hansaring 12, D-50670, Cologne, Germany.
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Phys. Rev. A 113, 063727 – Published 16 June, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/s5fb-yljk

Abstract

The rate of m-photon transitions in matter, induced by an incident light field, depends on the field's mth-order coherence function. Consequently, the coherence properties of the light field may be shaped to increase the rate of multiphoton transitions. Here, we determine the optimal state of a weak fixed-intensity, narrow-band incident light field, with a restricted maximal photon number, that optimally drives m-photon transitions in the case of a short-lived atomic multilevel system. We show that, in this case, no quantum properties of the light field need to be exploited, but that classical mixtures of coherent states are optimal.

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Phys. Rev. A 113, 063727– Published 16 June, 2026
  • Received 9 January 2026
  • Accepted 14 May 2026
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