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IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control

Controllability of Quantum Harmonic Oscillators

Mazyar Mirrahimi, Pierre Rouchon

Published May 1, 2004• 77 citations
Publisher

Abstract

It is proven in a previous paper that any modal approximation of the one-dimensional quantum harmonic oscillator is controllable. We prove here that, contrary to such finite-dimensional approximations, the original infinite-dimensional system is not controllable: Its controllable part is of dimension 2 and corresponds to the dynamics of the average position. More generally, we prove that, for the quantum harmonic oscillator of any dimension, similar lacks of controllability occur whatever the number of control is: the controllable part still corresponds to the average position dynamics. We show, with the quantum particle in a moving quadratic potential, that some physically interesting motion planning questions can be however solved.

DOI
10.1109/tac.2004.825966

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•May 26, 2003•0 citations
It is proven in a previous paper that any modal approximation of the one-dimensional quantum harmonic oscillator is controllable. We prove here that, contrary to such finite-dimensional approximations, the original infinite-dimensional system is not controllable: Its controllable part is of dimension 2 and corresponds to the dynamics of the average position. More generally, we prove that, for the quantum harmonic oscillator of any dimension, similar lacks of controllability occur whatever the number of control is: the controllable part still corresponds to the average position dynamics. We show, with the quantum particle in a moving quadratic potential, that some physically interesting motion planning questions can be however solved.
Controllability--the possibility of performing any target dynamics by applying a set of available operations--is a fundamental requirement for the practical use of any physical system. For finite-dimensional systems, such as spin systems, precise criteria to establish controllability, such as the so-called rank criterion, are well known. However, most physical systems require a description in terms of an infinite-dimensional Hilbert space whose controllability properties are poorly understood. Here, we investigate infinite-dimensional bosonic quantum systems--encompassing quantum light, ensembles of bosonic atoms, motional degrees of freedom of ions, and nanomechanical oscillators--governed by quadratic Hamiltonians (such that their evolution is analogous to coupled harmonic oscillators). After having highlighted the intimate connection between controllability and recurrence in the Hilbert space, we prove that, for coupled oscillators, a simple extra condition has to be fulfilled to extend the rank criterion to infinite-dimensional quadratic systems. Further, we present a useful application of our finding, by proving indirect controllability of a chain of harmonic oscillators.
A result (see, e.g., [3][complement BIII, page 217]) of quantum electrodynamics (based on Glauber theorem) says that classical currents and sources only generate classical light (quasi-classical states of the field). This paper provides a control theoretic interpretation of this result when the classical currents and sources are considered as control inputs: the dynamics of the quantified electrodynamics field is not controllable; the controllable part is contained into the classical dynamics. This result can be seen as the infinite dimensional analogue of the following fact (see [8]): the controllable part of the quantum harmonic oscillator corresponds to the classical dynamics of the average=-+u (u is the control input). Thus controllability can only be achieved when the field dynamics is coupled to some localized quantum dynamics. We describe here two typical models of such controlled systems: the Jaynes-Cummings model [6] (one field mode coupled to a two-level atom) and trapped ions vibrational model. Both systems correspond to experiments conducted by physicists. We recall their main approximations and validity domains. We also provide their associated formulation in terms of PDE with control.
In this paper, we consider the problem of the controllability of a finite-dimensional quantum system in both the Schrödinger and interaction pictures. Introducing a Quantum Transfer Graph, we elucidate the role of Lie algebra rank conditions and the complex nature of the control matrices. We analyze the example of a sequentially coupled N-level system: a spin-12 particle coupled to a finite quantum harmonic oscillator. This models an important physical paradigm of quantum computers—the trapped ion. We describe the control of the finite model obtained, under the right conditions, from the original infinite-dimensional system.
Thermostated time evolutions are on a firm ground and widely used in classical molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Hamilton´s equations of motion are supplemented by time-dependent pseudofriction terms that convert the microcanonical isoenergetic time evolution into a canonical isothermal time evolution, thus permitting the calculation of canonical ensemble averages by time averaging. However, similar methods for quantum MD schemes are still lacking. Given the rich dynamical behavior of ultracold trapped quantum gases depending on the value of the s-wave scattering length, it is timely to investigate how classical thermostating methods can be combined with powerful approximate quantum dynamics schemes to deal with interacting quantum systems at finite temperature. In this work, the popular method of Nose and Hoover to create canonically distributed positions and momenta in classical MD simulations is generalized to a genuine quantum system of infinite dimensionality. We show that for the quantum harmonic oscillator, the equations of motion in terms of coherent states may be modified in a Nose-Hoover manner to mimic the coupling of the system to a thermal bath and create a quantum canonical ensemble. The method is developed initially for a single particle and then generalized to the case of an arbitrary number of identical quantum particles, involving entangled distribution functions. The resulting isothermal equations of motion for bosons and fermions contain additional terms leading to Bose-attraction and Pauli-blocking, respectively. Questions of ergodicity are discussed for different coupling schemes. In the many-particle case, the superiority of the Nose-Hoover technique to a Langevin approach is demonstrated. In addition, the work contains an investigation of the Grilli-Tosatti thermostating method applied to the harmonic oscillator, and calculations for quantum wavefunctions moving with a time-invariant shape in a harmonic potential.