In this Brief Report, we present a perturbation theory that omits the weak multiphoton process to obtain analytical solutions for the Rabi model. Under this approximation, the Rabi model can be mapped into the solvable Jaynes-Cummings-like model by choosing a proper variation parameter. As a result, both the ground- and excited-state-energy spectrums and wave functions can be derived easily. Moreover, these explicit results agree well with the direct numerical simulation in a wide range of the experimental parameters. In addition, based on our obtained energy spectrums, the recent experimental observation of the Bloch-Siegert shift in the circuit quantum electrodynamics with ultrastrong coupling can be explained perfectly. We believe that our results have potential applications in solid-state quantum-information processing.

• Received 24 March 2012

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.86.015803