  The implementation of a Lambda scheme in superconducting artificial atoms
could allow detec- tion of stimulated Raman adiabatic passage (STIRAP) and
other quantum manipulations in the microwave regime. However symmetries which
on one hand protect the system against decoherence, yield selection rules which
may cancel coupling to the pump external drive. The tradeoff between efficient
coupling and decoherence due to broad-band colored Noise (BBCN), which is often
the main source of decoherence is addressed, in the class of nanodevices based
on the Cooper pair box (CPB) design. We study transfer efficiency by STIRAP,
showing that substantial efficiency is achieved for off-symmetric bias only in
the charge-phase regime. We find a number of results uniquely due to
non-Markovianity of BBCN, namely: (a) the efficiency for STIRAP depends
essentially on noise channels in the trapped subspace; (b) low-frequency
fluctuations can be analyzed and represented as fictitious correlated
fluctuations of the detunings of the external drives; (c) a simple figure of
merit for design and operating prescriptions allowing the observation of STIRAP
is proposed. The emerging physical picture also applies to other classes of
coherent nanodevices subject to BBCN.
