Quantum Control Landscapes

TL;DR

Quantum control landscapes exhibit universal properties that make finding optimal controls surprisingly straightforward, facilitating the manipulation of complex quantum systems despite computational and environmental challenges.

Contribution

This paper reviews studies that systematically characterize quantum control landscapes, aiding in classifying control mechanisms and designing efficient algorithms.

Findings

Quantum control landscapes have universal properties.

Optimal controls can be located efficiently despite system complexity.

These properties differ fundamentally from classical control landscapes.

Abstract

Numerous lines of experimental, numerical and analytical evidence indicate that it is surprisingly easy to locate optimal controls steering quantum dynamical systems to desired objectives. This has enabled the control of complex quantum systems despite the expense of solving the Schrodinger equation in simulations and the complicating effects of environmental decoherence in the laboratory. Recent work indicates that this simplicity originates in universal properties of the solution sets to quantum control problems that are fundamentally different from their classical counterparts. Here, we review studies that aim to systematically characterize these properties, enabling the classification of quantum control mechanisms and the design of globally efficient quantum control algorithms.