Property of quantum tunneling in a driven triple-well potential

The influence of parameters such as strength and frequency of a periodic driving force on the quantum tunneling of a particle in a triple-well potential is investigated, from the viewpoint of dynamical symmetry and the structure of the relevant Hilbert subspace both analytically and numerically. The numerical results show that, for different values of the parameters and locations of the particle, different kinds of tunneling are resulted. Tunneling occurs in special wells and could be suppressed completely or enhanced considerably, depending on different symmetries and structures of the Hilbert space where the tunneling dynamics takes place. The results are also analyzed within two- and three-state models in the light of Floquet formalism. (C) 2010 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.