Nonlinear dynamics of ladder and lambda STIRAP

We have studied the exact nonlinear dynamics underlying stimulated Raman adiabatic passage (STIRAP) for a particle in a multi-level anharmonic system (the infinite square-well) driven by two sequential laser pulses, each with constant carrier frequency. We compare two basic processes, ladder and lambda. We have found that the coherent population transfer for both cases is dependent on the nature of the Floquet eigenphase avoided crossings created by an underlying transition to chaos.