Umass Boston  Quantum Nonlinear Dynamics and Control Group 

Quantum Feedback Control

Feedback control is the process of monitoring a system and using the information, as it is being obtained (that is, in real-time) to apply forces to the system to control it's behavior. Generally the objective is to get the system to maintain a desired evolution in the presence of noise or other uncertainties. The subject of feedback control in classical systems is well-developed, and feedback control is essential in many electrical and mechanical devices.  The application of feedback control to quantum systems is the subject of quantum feedback control.

The key property that distinguishes quantum feedback control from its classical counterpart is that, in general, measurements cause disturbance in quantum systems. That is, the measurement that is part of the feedback loop will introduce noise into the system. Understanding feedback control in quantum systems therefore involves understanding not only how best to use the information obtained by the measurement, but how to optimize the measurement to minimize the disturbance.

Another important application of feedback control in quantum systems is adaptive measurement. In this case the measurement (or equivalently the system) is altered in real time so as to achieve an effective measurement process that may be difficult to obtain in any other way. The group at UMass Boston is working on the theory of feedback for stabilization and on adaptive measurements, as well as specific applications in atom optics and QNEMS. 


Selected Publications

   
Feedback Control of Non-linear Quantum Systems: a Rule of Thumb
K. Jacobs and A. P. Lund
Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 020501 (2007)

Rapid State-Reduction of Quantum Systems Using Feedback Control
J. Combes and K. Jacobs,
Phys. Rev. Lett. 96 , 010504 (2006)

Quantum Feedback Control of Atomic Motion in an Optical Cavity
D.A. Steck, K. Jacobs, H. Mabuchi, S. Habib and T. Bhattacharya,
Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 223004 (2004)

Feedback-Control of Quantum Systems Using Continuous State-Estimation
A. Doherty and K. Jacobs,
Phys Rev. A 60, 2700 (1999)