Acceleration-induced spectral beats in strongly driven harmonic oscillators

The harmonic modulation of coherent systems gives rise to a wealth of physical phenomena, e.g., the AC-Stark effect and Mollow triplets, with important implications for coherent control and frequency conversion. Here, we demonstrate a novel regime of temporal coherence in oscillators harmonically driven at extreme energy modulation amplitudes relative to the modulation quantum. The studies were carried out by modulating a confined exciton-polariton Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) by an acoustic wave. Features of the new regime are the appearance, in the spectral domain, of a comb of resonances termed acceleration beats with energy spacing tunable by the modulation amplitude and, in the time domain, of temporal correlations at time scales much shorter than the acoustic period, which also depend on the modulation amplitude. These features are quantitatively accounted for by a theoretical framework, which associates the beats with accelerated energy-change rates during the harmonic cycle. These observations are underpinned by the high sensitivity of the BEC energy to the acoustic driving, which simultaneously preserves the BEC’s temporal coherence. The acceleration beats are a general feature associated with accelerated energy changes: analogous features are thus also expected to appear under highly accelerated motion e.g., in connection with Cherenkov and Hawking radiation.