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Optimal control of time-dependent targets

I. Serban·J. Werschnik·E. K. U. Gross
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Abstract

In this work, we investigate how and to which extent a quantum system can be driven along a prescribed path in Hilbert space by a suitably shaped laser pulse. To calculate the optimal, i.e., the variationally best pulse, a properly defined functional is maximized. This leads to a monotonically convergent algorithm which is computationally not more expensive than the standard optimal-control techniques to push a system, without specifying the path, from a given initial to a given final state. The method is successfully applied to drive the time-dependent density along a given trajectory in real space and to control the time-dependent occupation numbers of a two-level system and of a one-dimensional model for the hydrogen atom.

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I. Serban, J. Werschnik, E. K. U. Gross. 2005-04-18. Optimal control of time-dependent targets. https://doi.org/10.1103/physreva.71.053810

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