Complete Rabi oscillations in the ion–laser interaction

Abstract

We present the dynamics of a single harmonically trapped ion interacting with a laser, considering a linear combination of two eigenstates of the system as the initial state. The conditions on the physical parameters that allow for the evolution of the system are discussed. We are able to obtain analytical results using no other approximation than the optical rotating-wave approximation and are able to show Rabi oscillations for such initial states.