Stochastic switching and dynamical freezing in nonlinear spin systems

Abstract

We consider the controlled switching of individual spins in a nonlinear, interacting spin chain by means of external magnetic fields. We show analytically and by full numerical simulations that stochastic switching is achievable when the driving fields are such that the underlying semi-classical dynamics is chaotic. On the basis of random matrix theory and the geometry of quantum evolution we confirm the quantum case to follow qualitatively the semi-classical behavior. © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.