Incoherent control of open quantum systems"

Incoherent control exploits the environment as a control resource to manipulate open
quantum systems. The control is the state of the environment (i.e., its distribution function) which acts on the non-unitary aspects of the system dynamics. The talk will review the use of incoherent light for incoherent control of atomic systems showing in particular that special combinations of incoherent and coherent light can produce arbitrary pure and mixed atomic quantum states. This finding shows that quantum systems can be completely density matrix controllable provided that controls affect both Hamiltonian and non-Hamiltonian (i.e., Lindblad) aspects of the dynamics.

References: Phys. Rev. A 73, 062102 (2006); Phys. Rev. A 84, 042106 (2011).