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arXiv:2609.06111

Measurement-Based Feedback of Open Quantum Systems: A Control-Theoretic Review and Tutorial

Weichao Liang, Jing Zhang, Gaoyue Guo, Daoyi Dong

quant-phmath-phmath.OCSubmitted Sep 5, 2026• Announced Sep 8, 2026• 0 citations
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Abstract

This review develops a control-theoretic perspective on measurement-based feedback for continuously monitored open quantum systems, with the main analysis focused on finite-dimensional systems governed by diffusive stochastic master equations. We introduce the relevant state-space, invariant-subspace, and quantum non-demolition structures, interpret quantum filtering as nonlinear observer dynamics, and review open-loop asymptotics, filter stability, state-feedback stabilization, robustness, and reduced-order observer-based control. Particular emphasis is placed on a recurrence--contraction framework, in which Hamiltonian feedback removes non-target invariant obstructions while measurement-induced dynamics provide local exponential contraction. Although the detailed analysis is developed for finite-dimensional diffusive models, the underlying measurement--estimation--feedback architecture is relevant across a broad range of quantum platforms. We further discuss implementation challenges and open problems involving scalable estimation, sampling and delay, adaptation, hybrid and non-Markovian dynamics, practical stability, optimal control, and learning-based design. By organizing these developments around invariance, estimation, recurrence, and contraction, the review provides a tutorial bridge between measurement-based quantum feedback and nonlinear stochastic control.

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Physical Review A•Nov 3, 2022•1 citation
This review develops a control-theoretic perspective on measurement-based feedback for continuously monitored open quantum systems, with the main analysis focused on finite-dimensional systems governed by diffusive stochastic master equations. We introduce the relevant state-space, invariant-subspace, and quantum non-demolition structures, interpret quantum filtering as nonlinear observer dynamics, and review open-loop asymptotics, filter stability, state-feedback stabilization, robustness, and reduced-order observer-based control. Particular emphasis is placed on a recurrence--contraction framework, in which Hamiltonian feedback removes non-target invariant obstructions while measurement-induced dynamics provide local exponential contraction. Although the detailed analysis is developed for finite-dimensional diffusive models, the underlying measurement--estimation--feedback architecture is relevant across a broad range of quantum platforms. We further discuss implementation challenges and open problems involving scalable estimation, sampling and delay, adaptation, hybrid and non-Markovian dynamics, practical stability, optimal control, and learning-based design. By organizing these developments around invariance, estimation, recurrence, and contraction, the review provides a tutorial bridge between measurement-based quantum feedback and nonlinear stochastic control.
In practical applications, quantum systems are inevitably subject to significant uncertainties, including unknown initial states, imprecise physical parameters, and unmodeled environmental noise, all of which pose major challenges to robust quantum feedback control. This paper proposes a feedback stabilization strategy based on a reduced quantum filter that achieves robustness against time-varying Hamiltonian perturbations and additional dissipative effects, without requiring prior knowledge of the initial state or exact system parameters. The proposed filter estimates only O(N) real variables corresponding to the diagonal elements of the system density matrix in a quantum non-demolition basis in contrast to the O(N^2) variables required by a full stochastic master equation, where N is the Hilbert space dimension. This dimensionality reduction substantially simplifies real-time computation and feedback implementation while preserving both convergence and robustness guarantees. Rigorous analysis further establishes global exponential stability of the target subspace. The results provide a scalable framework for robust and efficient measurement-based feedback control applicable to high-dimensional perturbed open quantum systems.
Quantum Markov models have been successfully used to accurately model various physical quantum systems in fields such as quantum optics, optomechanics and superconducting circuits and they provide the basis for (measurement-based) quantum feedback control. However, the quantum Markov assumption is a strong one and it is not expected to hold for general quantum systems of interest. The projection operator approach is one approach that has been developed to model non-Markovian quantum systems by considering its embedding in a larger Markovian quantum system, but mainly in the context of quantum master equations for the dynamics of the unmonitored reduced quantum state of a quantum system. This approach was recently adapted for continuously measured non-Markovian quantum systems, which enables open-loop control but did not yet consider the presence of feedback of the stochastic measurement record, deriving non-Markovian SDEs for the evolution of the projected state of the Markovian embedding. This paper generalizes these stochastic equations to the setting of stochastic feedback based on the continuous-measurement record and shows that the equations take the same form but that previously deterministic terms become stochastic ones which depend on the measurement record, as would be intuitively expected. The stochastic equations are obtained for a generalized class of measurements that includes continuous (possibly adaptive) homodyne and photon counting measurements.
We investigate the impact of undesired Markovian couplings to external systems on the stabilization towards pure states or subspaces of continuously monitored quantum systems under open-loop and feedback control protocols. In particular, we provide sufficient conditions on perturbations to maintain stability of the target and demonstrate the boundedness in mean of the solutions of perturbed systems under open-loop protocols. Effect on the stability of feedback protocols is also analyzed. This work is a step toward a comprehensive robustness analysis of measurement-based control of quantum systems with respect to model perturbations.
In this paper, we examine an open quantum system that is subject to indirect and imperfect measurements. Specifically, for quantum non-demolition (QND) measurements, we show that the evolution of the system is confined to a properly selected manifold. This allows us to express the exact solution of the quantum filter equation in terms of a lower-dimensional stochastic differential equation, significantly reducing the computational complexity. Motivated by a quantum state reduction result for the predicted dynamics under QND measurement, we propose, in the case when the Hamiltonian and the coupling operator do not commute, a projection filter approach for the quantum state estimation. The efficiency of the proposed quantum projection filter is verified by numerical simulations. The latter suggest that, even when paired with a stabilizing feedback control mechanism that depends on the projected state, the filter maintains its robustness. More generally, our numerical results suggest the effectiveness of the adopted quantum projection filter approach as a method for state estimation and feedback stabilization of open quantum systems.
We develop a model-free framework for stabilizing quantum states using only empirical finite-difference evaluations of a measurement-derived Lyapunov observable. The controller requires no knowledge of the Hamiltonian, dissipative structure, or generator of the dynamics, and relies solely on discrete measurement data. The approach combines three key elements: sign-based Lyapunov descent, adaptive gain amplification, and a finite-difference analogue of LaSalle's invariance principle. We provide rigorous conditions under which these mechanisms guarantee asymptotic stabilization along the sampling instants in the drift-free case and practical input-to-state stability (ISS) in the presence of unknown drift and noise. The resulting feedback law is simple, derivative-free, and experimentally feasible. A qubit example illustrates the complete closed-loop scheme and the predicted ISS-type behavior. Although demonstrated on a single qubit, the theory applies to arbitrary finite-dimensional quantum systems and offers a foundation for further developments in stochastic, subspace, and multi-qudit model-free quantum control.
High-fidelity state preparation represents a fundamental challenge in the application of quantum technology. While the majority of optimal control approaches use feedback to improve the controller, the controller itself often does not incorporate explicit state dependence. Here, we present a general framework for training deep feedback networks for open quantum systems with continuous weak measurement that allows a variety of system and control structures that are prohibitive by many other techniques and can in effect react to unmodeled effects through nonlinear filtering. Our approach benefits from characteristics of both stochastic sampling and gradient-based optimization methods yet does not require differentiability as in backpropagation approaches. We demonstrate that this method is efficient due to inherent parallelizability, robust to open system interactions, and outperforms landmark state-dependent feedback control results in simulation.