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arXiv:1210.2632 · IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control

Decoherence-Free Linear Quantum Subsystems

Naoki Yamamoto

Published Mar 25, 2014• 32 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

This paper provides a general theory for characterizing and constructing a decoherence-free (DF) subsystem for an infinite dimensional linear open quantum system. The main idea is that, based on the Heisenberg picture of the dynamics rather than the commonly-taken Schrödinger picture, the notions of controllability and observability in control theory are employed to characterize a DF subsystem. A particularly useful result is a general if and only if condition for a linear system to have a DF component; this condition is used to demonstrate how to actually construct a DF dynamics in some specific examples. It is also shown that, as in the finite dimensional case, we are able to do coherent manipulation and preservation of a state of a DF subsystem.

DOI
10.1109/tac.2014.2313218

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This paper provides a general theory for characterizing and constructing a decoherence-free (DF) subsystem for an infinite dimensional linear open quantum system. The main idea is that, based on the Heisenberg picture of the dynamics rather than the commonly-taken Schrödinger picture, the notions of controllability and observability in control theory are employed to characterize a DF subsystem. A particularly useful result is a general if and only if condition for a linear system to have a DF component; this condition is used to demonstrate how to actually construct a DF dynamics in some specific examples. It is also shown that, as in the finite dimensional case, we are able to do coherent manipulation and preservation of a state of a DF subsystem.
The purpose of this paper is to conduct a comprehensive structural analysis of quantum finite-level systems in the Heisenberg picture, where the evolution of system observables is modeled by bilinear quantum stochastic differential equations (QSDEs). Firstly, real coordinate transformations that preserve commutation and anticommutation relations are characterized, and relative admissibility between different orthonormal Hermitian bases is formulated. Secondly, strongly aligned subspaces are introduced, based on which decoherence-free subsystems (DFSs) are constructed in general orthonormal Hermitian basis as well as the generalized Gell-Mann basis. Thirdly, conditions for the existence of quantum nondemolition (QND) variables are given in terms of both linear systems theory and spectral separation by output-signal observables. Finally, a sufficient condition for quantum back-action-evading (BAE) measurements is established. A four-qubit nearest-neighbor Heisenberg chain with collective dephasing illustrates these structural properties of quantum finite-level systems.
This paper proposes the concept of subsystem controllability for both closed and open quantum dynamical systems, and the existence conditions of controllable subsystems are derived accordingly. It is demonstrated that a controllable subsystem may exist for a closed quantum dynamical system even if the overall system is not controllable. Furthermore, we also demonstrate that, for a class of decoherence-free subsystems of Markovian open quantum dynamical systems, the subsystems are controllable under open-loop coherent control if the initial states of the open systems are factorized. To a certain extent, this paper gives an alternative control theoretical interpretation on why decoherence-free subsystems are useful for quantum computation.
This paper demonstrates that the decoherence-free subsystem of open quantum dynamical system is open-loop controllable if the suitable coherent controls are permitted. This result is in marked contrast to the fact that open quantum dynamical systems are not open-loop controllable. In other words, combining the decoherence-free subsystem condition with coherent control on the open quantum dynamical systems will enhance the ability to suppress the decoherence and to manipulate open quantum dynamical systems.
This paper studies the Kalman decomposition for linear quantum systems. Contrary to the classical case, the coordinate transformation used for the decomposition must belong to a specific class of transformations as a consequence of the laws of quantum mechanics. We propose a construction method for such transformations that put the system in a Kalman canonical form. Furthermore, we uncover an interesting structure for the obtained decomposition. In the case of passive systems, it is shown that there exist only controllable/observable and uncontrollable/unobservable subsystems. In the general case, controllable/unobservable and uncontrollable/observable subsystems may also be present, but their respective system variables must be conjugate variables of each other. This decomposition naturally exposes decoherence-free modes, quantum-nondemolition modes, quantum-mechanics-free subsystems, and back-action evasion measurements in the quantum system, which are useful resources for quantum information processing, and quantum measurements. The theory developed is applied to physical examples.
In this review we discuss some results on the asymptotic dynamics of finite-dimensional open quantum systems in the Heisenberg picture. Both the spectral and algebraic approaches to this topic are addressed, with particular emphasis on their relationship. The analysis is conducted in both the discrete-time and the continuous-time Markovian settings. In the final part of the work, some issues emerging in the infinite-dimensional case are also discussed. In particular, we provide an example of a Markovian evolution whose decoherence-free algebra is a type III von Neumann algebra.
We characterize the dynamical behavior of continuous-time, Markovian quantum systems with respect to a subsystem of interest. Markovian dynamics describes a wide class of open quantum systems of relevance to quantum information processing, subsystem encodings offering a general pathway to faithfully represent quantum information. We provide explicit linear-algebraic characterizations of the notion of invariant and noiseless subsystem for Markovian master equations, under different robustness assumptions for model-parameter and initial-state variations. The stronger concept of an attractive quantum subsystem is introduced, and sufficient existence conditions are identified based on Lyapunov's stability techniques. As a main control application, we address the potential of output-feedback Markovian control strategies for quantum pure state-stabilization and noiseless-subspace generation. In particular, explicit results for the synthesis of stabilizing semigroups and noiseless subspaces in finite-dimensional Markovian systems are obtained.