Relaxation, decoherence and steady-state population inversion in qubits doubly dressed by microwave and radiofrequency fields

Abstract: The coherent dynamics of relaxing spin qubits driven by a classical bichromatic field comprising a strong resonant component and a weaker component with a frequency close to the strong-field Rabi frequency is studied. The double dressing by the bichromatic field modifies dephasing and dissipation processes. We demonstrate that detuning of the weaker-field frequency from the strong-field Rabi frequency prolongs the decay of Rabi oscillations between some doubly dressed states. The sensitivity of Rabi oscillations to the modified detuning-dependent relaxation is illustrated for nitrogen-vacancy qubits in diamond. We discuss a steady-state population inversion of the doubly dressed-state levels.