Bloch-Siegert oscillations in the Rabi model with an amplitude-modulated driving field

Abstract: We study the coherent dynamics of a qubit excited by an amplitude-modulated electromagnetic field under the Rabi resonance when the frequency of the low-frequency modulation field matches the Rabi frequency in the high-frequency field. Due to destructive interference of multiple photon processes at the ultrastrong coupling between the qubit and the low-frequency driving field, Rabi oscillations result exclusively from the Bloch-Siegert effect. It is directly observed in the time-resolved coherent dynamics as the Bloch-Siegert oscillation. In this case, triplets in Fourier spectra of the coherent response are transformed into doublets with the splitting between the lines equal to twice the Bloch-Siegert shift. These unusual properties are demonstrated in conditions of experiments with a nitrogen vacancy center in diamond.