Decoherence time control by interconnection for finite-level quantum memory systems

Abstract

This paper is concerned with open quantum systems whose dynamic variables have an algebraic structure, similar to that of the Pauli matrices for finite-level systems. The Hamiltonian and the operators of coupling of the system to the external bosonic fields depend linearly on the system variables. The fields are represented by quantum Wiener processes which drive the system dynamics according to a quasilinear Hudson–Parthasarathy quantum stochastic differential equation whose drift vector and dispersion matrix are affine and linear functions of the system variables. This setting includes the zero-Hamiltonian isolated system dynamics as a particular case, where the system variables are constant in time, which makes them potentially applicable as a quantum memory. In a more realistic case of nonvanishing system-field coupling, we define a memory decoherence time when a mean-square deviation of the system variables from their initial values becomes relatively significant as specified by a weighting matrix and a fidelity parameter. We consider the decoherence time maximization over the energy parameters of the system and obtain a condition under which the zero Hamiltonian provides a suboptimal solution. This optimization problem is also discussed for a direct energy coupling interconnection of such systems.