Inhibiting unwanted transitions in population transfer in two- and three-level quantum systems

We examine the stability of population transfer in two- and three-level systems against unwanted additional transitions. This population inversion is achieved by using recently proposed schemes called "shortcuts to adiabaticity". We quantify and compare the sensitivity of different schemes to these unwanted transitions. Finally, we provide examples of shortcut schemes which lead to a zero transition sensitivity in certain regimes, i.e. which lead to a nearly perfect population inversion even in the presence of unwanted transitions.