Journal of Chemical Physics, Vol.109, No.7, 2635-2643, 1998
Dissipative tunneling control by elliptically polarized fields
The tunneling dynamics of a dissipative two-level system that is strongly driven by elliptically polarized electric fields is investigated. The dissipative dynamics is governed within the noninteracting-blip-approximation for the stochastic forces by a generalized master equation (GME). With the focus being on viscous friction, we compare exact numerical solutions of the GME with analytical approximations to both the transient and the asymptotic, long-time periodic dynamics. Novel phenomena are identified : These are a selective control on localization (or, as well, on delocalization) of the tunneling dynamics, or the inversion of an initially induced localization by a static bias via multiphoton-assisted tunneling. These effects can be selectively tuned as a function of the eccentricity parameter p = E-y/E-x of corresponding field amplitudes. In particular, the case of a circularly polarized driving field with p = +/- 1 yields a dramatic enhancement of the relaxation rate at resonances, when an integer multiple of the angular driving frequency matches the asymmetry energy induced by a static bias.