Lyapunov control on quantum open systems in decoherence-free subspaces

A scheme to drive and manipulate a finite-dimensional quantum system in decoherence-free subspaces (DFSs) by Lyapunov control is proposed. Control fields are established by the Lyapunov function. This proposal can drive the open quantum system into DFSs and manipulate it to any desired eigenstate of the free Hamiltonian. An example which consists of a four-level system with three long-lived states driven by two lasers is presented to demonstrate the scheme. We have performed numerical simulations of the dynamics of the four-level system, which show that the scheme works well.