Population Oscillations and Ubiquitous Coherences in Multilevel Quantum Systems Driven by Incoherent Radiation

Abstract

We consider incoherent excitation of multilevel quantum systems, e.g., molecules with multiple vibronic states. We show that (1) the geometric constraints of the matter−field coupling operator guarantee that noise-induced coherences will be generated in all systems with four or more incoherent transitions between energy eigenstates and (2) noise-induced coherences can lead to population oscillations due to quantum interference via coherence transfer between pairs of states in the ground and excited manifolds. Our findings facilitate the experimental detection of noise-induced coherent dynamics in complex quantum systems.