The aim of this paper is to provide a short introduction to modern issues in the control of infinite dimensional closed quantum systems, driven by the bilinear Schrödinger equation. The first part is a quick presentation of some of the numerous recent developments in the fields. This short summary is intended to demonstrate the variety of tools and approaches used by various teams in the last decade. In a second part, we present four examples of bilinear closed quantum systems. These examples were extensively studied and may be used as a convenient and efficient test bench for new conjectures. Finally, we list some open questions, both of theoretical and practical interest.
The aim of this paper is to provide a short introduction to modern issues in the control of infinite dimensional closed quantum systems, driven by the bilinear Schrödinger equation. The first part is a quick presentation of some of the numerous recent developments in the fields. This short summary is intended to demonstrate the variety of tools and approaches used by various teams in the last decade. In a second part, we present four examples of bilinear closed quantum systems. These examples were extensively studied and may be used as a convenient and efficient test bench for new conjectures. Finally, we list some open questions, both of theoretical and practical interest.
The subject of controlling quantum systems is not new, but concepts that have been introduced in the last decade and a half, especially that of coherent feedback, suggest new questions that broaden and deepen the field. Here we provide a concise overview and definition of quantum feedback control, both coherent and measurement-based, and discuss its relationship to "standard" time-dependent control; there is a sense in which the latter subsumes the rest. There are many open questions within quantum control and its subfields, and we highlight and discuss some of them here. These questions are of theoretical as well as practical interest: the answers will help to determine the relative power of the different methods of control, and the limits to our ability to control quantum systems imposed by available resources.
Quantum phenomena of interest in connection with applications to computation and communication often involve generating specific transfers between eigenstates, and their linear superpositions. For some quantum systems, such as spin systems, the quantum evolution equation (the Schrödinger equation) is finite-dimensional and old results on controllability of systems defined on on Lie groups and quotient spaces provide most of what is needed insofar as controllability of non-dissipative systems is concerned. However, in an infinite-dimensional setting, controlling the evolution of quantum systems often presents difficulties, both conceptual and technical. In this paper we present a systematic approach to a class of such problems for which it is possible to avoid some of the technical issues. In particular, we analyze controllability for infinite-dimensional bilinear systems under assumptions that make controllability possible using trajectories lying in a nested family of pre-defined subspaces. This result, which we call the Finite Controllability Theorem, provides a set of sufficient conditions for controllability in an infinite-dimensional setting. We consider specific physical systems that are of interest for quantum computing, and provide insights into the types of quantum operations (gates) that may be developed.
Quantum computing comes with the potential to push computational boundaries in various domains including, e.g., cryptography, simulation, optimization, and machine learning. Exploiting the principles of quantum mechanics, new algorithms can be developed with capabilities that are unprecedented by classical computers. However, the experimental realization of quantum devices is an active field of research with enormous open challenges, including robustness against noise and scalabilty. While systems and control theory plays a crucial role in tackling these challenges, the principles of quantum physics lead to a (perceived) high entry barrier for entering the field of quantum computing. This tutorial paper aims at lowering the barrier by introducing basic concepts required to understand and solve research problems in quantum systems. First, we introduce fundamentals of quantum algorithms, ranging from basic ingredients such as qubits and quantum logic gates to prominent examples and more advanced concepts, e.g., variational quantum algorithms. Next, we formalize some engineering questions for building quantum devices in the real world, which requires the careful manipulation of microscopic quantities obeying quantum effects. To this end for N-level systems, we introduce basic concepts of (bilinear) quantum systems and control theory including controllability, observability, and optimal control in a unified frame. Finally, we address the problem of noise in real-world quantum systems via robust quantum control, which relies on a set-membership uncertainty description frequently employed in control. A key goal of this tutorial paper is to demystify engineering aspects of quantum computing by emphasizing that its mathematical description mainly involves linear algebra (for quantum algorithms) and the handling of bilinear control systems (for quantum systems and control theory) but does not require too much detailed knowledge of quantum physics.
The quantum information science (QIS) is relatively young, but quite broad and emerging field of modern physics. This is an interdisciplinary field where quantum mechanics, computer science, mathematics and computing technologies meet together. Using the laws of quantum mechanics to deal with information opens many new opportunities. However, these opportunities can only be used if one can construct a quantum logic device to implement QIS methods. In the last decade many researchers proposed the variety of physical systems, that can be used as building blocks of the so called quantum computer. But the question of building an effective connection between different blocks remains open. Recently, the idea to build a ’quantum wire’ using chains of permanently coupled spins was studied by a number of authors. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate and develop advanced schemes for using quantum chains as wires. The first part of the thesis shortly describes the concepts of quantum computing and quantum state transfer. We then briefly introduce different schemes to couple two superconducting qubits and analyze more closely one of them. Then we analyze the process of the state transfer for the chain of flux qubits. Next, we propose a new method of improved quantum state transfer which was created as a part of this thesis. Finally, we study the effects and the role of interference in quantum state transfer via spin chains.
In the framework of bilinear control of the Schrödinger equation with bounded control operators, it has been proved that the reachable set has a dense complemement in S∩H2. Hence, in this setting, exact quantum control in infinite dimensions is not possible. On the other hand it is known that there is a simple choice of operators which, when applied to an arbitrary state, generate dense orbits in Hilbert space. Compatibility of these two results is established in this paper and, in particular, it is proved that the closure of the reachable set of bilinear control by bounded operators is dense in S∩H2. The requirements for controllability in infinite dimensions are also related to the properties of the infinite dimensional unitary group.