The realization of high-fidelity quantum control is crucial for quantum information processing, particularly in noisy environments where control strategies must simultaneously achieve precise manipulation and effective noise suppression. Conventional optimal control designs typically require numerical calculations of the system dynamics. Recent studies have demonstrated that long short-term memory neural networks (LSTM) can accurately predict the time evolution of open quantum systems. Based on LSTM predicted dynamics, we propose an optimal control framework for rapid and efficient optimal control design in open quantum systems. As illustrative examples, we apply the proposed framework to design optimal control for adiabatic speedup in a two-level system and for quantum state transfer in a spin chain, both under non-Markovian environments. For adiabatic speedup, our optimization procedure involves two steps: driving trajectory optimization and zero-area pulse optimization. Fidelity improvements for both steps have been obtained, demonstrating the effectiveness of the scheme. Furthermore, this effectiveness is validated for quantum state transfer in a spin chain, which is a high dimensional control problem. Our optimal control design scheme utilizes predicted dynamics to generate optimized controls, offering broad application potential in quantum computing, communication, and sensing.
The realization of high-fidelity quantum control is crucial for quantum information processing, particularly in noisy environments where control strategies must simultaneously achieve precise manipulation and effective noise suppression. Conventional optimal control designs typically require numerical calculations of the system dynamics. Recent studies have demonstrated that long short-term memory neural networks (LSTM) can accurately predict the time evolution of open quantum systems. Based on LSTM predicted dynamics, we propose an optimal control framework for rapid and efficient optimal control design in open quantum systems. As illustrative examples, we apply the proposed framework to design optimal control for adiabatic speedup in a two-level system and for quantum state transfer in a spin chain, both under non-Markovian environments. For adiabatic speedup, our optimization procedure involves two steps: driving trajectory optimization and zero-area pulse optimization. Fidelity improvements for both steps have been obtained, demonstrating the effectiveness of the scheme. Furthermore, this effectiveness is validated for quantum state transfer in a spin chain, which is a high dimensional control problem. Our optimal control design scheme utilizes predicted dynamics to generate optimized controls, offering broad application potential in quantum computing, communication, and sensing.
Traditional quantum control relies on an iterative "simulate-then-optimize" paradigm, where dynamics simulation and control design are decoupled, leading to substantial computational overhead and limited scalability, particularly in noisy environments. Here, we propose an end-to-end quantum control framework based on long short-term memory, in which system dynamics and control strategies are learned jointly in a low dimensional latent manifold. The model directly maps initial states and environmental parameters to both dynamical trajectories and optimized control pulse in a single forward pass. The framework is validated on adiabatic speedup in a two-level system and state transfer in a one-dimensional spin chain under noise, achieving accurate dynamical prediction and control optimization. It improves the fidelity for both tasks and significantly reduces the optimization cost by three orders of magnitude compared with conventional iterative methods, while exhibiting strong generalization to multi-parameter, time-varying noise, as well as to different initial states and driving fields. Our work introduces a data-driven control paradigm based on latent manifold learning, reducing the computational bottleneck of iterative optimization and enabling real-time adaptive control of complex open quantum systems.
Accurate and precise quantum control is crucial for quantum information processing. Zero-area pulse control, originally developed for closed systems, has played a significant role in driving quantum systems toward desired states. However, its effectiveness is often compromised by environmental noise. Traditional methods can find optimal pulses for fixed environmental parameters, and they need to be recalculated again once the environmental parameters change. Here, we propose a supervised learning (SL)-based protocol to design optimal zero-area pulses in noisy environments. By including environmental parameters as input during training, the neural network (NN) learns to generate effective controls for various environmental parameters. We demonstrate the protocol using quantum state transmission through a spin chain governed by a non-Markovian master equation. The SL-optimized pulses significantly enhance transmission fidelity compared to ideal pulses, with greater improvements observed at higher system-bath coupling and temperature, where more optimization space exists. Interestingly, fidelity first increases and then decreases with stronger Markovianity, suggesting that highly Markovian environments limit control performance. We also compare the SL method with a genetic algorithm, and the similar results confirm the accuracy and generalization ability of the NN-based approach.
Resisting diverse noise effects is crucial for the accurate manipulation of quantum systems. For static or slowly varying noises, many efficient noise mitigation strategies have been developed, such as composite pulses and dynamical decoupling. However, for fast fluctuating noise in the Markovian limit, whether and to what extent coherent quantum control can enhance quantum engineering tasks remains unclear and less explored. Here, we propose a robust quantum optimal control method to tackle Markovian noises. The basic idea is that, regarding the Markovian noise channel as perturbation, we quantitatively characterize the noise-induced error evolution by the perturbative expansion term, and then take them as the objective functions to be suppressed. During optimization, the optimal controls are obtained by maximizing the control target function and meanwhile minimizing the perturbative terms due to Markovian noise order by order. As demonstration examples, we first apply our method to quantum state transfer tasks on two-level and three-level $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}$ systems, then use it to design quantum gates in two-level and three-level ladder systems, all under Markovian noises. The simulation results illustrate that our method can notably enhance quantum state transfer fidelities and have very limited improvement on gate fidelities. The method presented here is versatile and can be extended to enhance the performance of various control tasks under Markovian noise in multilevel or multiqubit quantum systems.
Controlling the charging process of a quantum battery involves strategies to efficiently transfer, store, and retain energy, while mitigating decoherence, energy dissipation, and inefficiencies caused by surrounding interactions. We develop a model to study the charging process of a quantum battery in an open quantum setting, where the battery interacts with a charger and a structured reservoir. To overcome the limitations of static charging protocols, a reinforcement learning (RL) charging strategy is proposed, which utilizes the deep deterministic policy gradient algorithm alongside long short-term memory (LSTM) networks. The LSTM networks enable the RL model to capture temporal correlations driven by non-Markovian dynamics, facilitating a continuous, adaptive charging strategy. The RL protocols consistently outperform conventional fixed heuristic strategies by real-time controlling the driving field amplitude and coupling parameters. By penalizing battery-to-charger backflow in the reward function, the RL-optimized charging strategy promotes efficient unidirectional energy transfer from charger to battery, achieving higher and more stable extractable work. The proposed RL controller would provide a framework for designing efficient charging schemes in broader configurations and multi-cell quantum batteries.
Quantum control is a ubiquitous research field that has enabled physicists to delve into the dynamics and features of quantum systems, delivering powerful applications for various atomic, optical, mechanical, and solid-state systems. In recent years, traditional control techniques based on optimization processes have been translated into efficient artificial intelligence algorithms. Here, we introduce a computational method for optimal quantum control problems via physics-informed neural networks (PINNs). We apply our methodology to open quantum systems by efficiently solving the state-to-state transfer problem with high probabilities, short-time evolution, and using low-energy consumption controls. Furthermore, we illustrate the flexibility of PINNs to solve the same problem under changes in physical parameters and initial conditions, showing advantages in comparison with standard control techniques.
This article provides a review of recent developments in the formulation and execution of optimal control strategies for the dynamics of quantum systems. A brief introduction to the concept of optimal control, the dynamics of of open quantum systems, and quantum information processing is followed by a presentation of recent developments regarding the two main tasks in this context: state-specific and state-independent optimal control. For the former, we present an extension of conventional theory (Pontryagin's principle) to quantum systems which undergo a non-Markovian time-evolution. Owing to its importance for the realization of quantum information processing, the main body of the review, however, is devoted to state-independent optimal control. Here, we address three different approaches: an approach which treats dissipative effects from the environment in lowest-order perturbation theory, a general method based on the time--evolution superoperator concept, as well as one based on the Kraus representation of the time-evolution superoperator. Applications which illustrate these new methods focus on single and double qubits (quantum gates) whereby the environment is modeled either within the Lindblad equation or a bath of bosons (spin-boson model). While these approaches are widely applicable, we shall focus our attention to solid-state based physical realizations, such as semiconductor- and superconductor-based systems. While an attempt is made to reference relevant and representative work throughout the community, the exposition will focus mainly on work which has emerged from our own group.