Stochastic feedback control of quantum transport to realize a dynamical ensemble of two nonorthogonal pure states

Abstract

A Markovian open quantum system which relaxes to a unique steady state $\rho_{ss}$ of finite rank can be decomposed into a finite physically realizable ensemble (PRE) of pure states. That is, as shown by Karasik and Wiseman [Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 020406 (2011)], in principle there is a way to monitor the environment so that in the long time limit the conditional state jumps between a finite number of possible pure states. In this paper we show how to apply this idea to the dynamics of a double quantum dot arising from the feedback control of quantum transport, as previously considered by one of us and co-workers [Phys. Rev. B 84, 085302 (2011)]. Specifically, we consider the limit where the system can be described as a qubit, and show that while the control scheme can always realize a two-state PRE, in the incoherent tunneling regime there are infinitely many PREs compatible with the dynamics that cannot be so realized. For the two-state PREs that are realized, we calculate the counting statistics and see a clear distinction between the coherent and incoherent regimes.