Optimal Control of the Electronic Current Density - An application to one- and two-dimensional one-electron systems

Abstract

Quantum optimal control theory is a powerful tool for engineering quantum systems subject to external fields such as the ones created by intense lasers. The formulation relies on a suitable definition for a target functional, that translates the intended physical objective to a mathematical form. We propose the use of target functionals defined in terms of the one-particle density and its current. A strong motivation for this is the possibility of using time-dependent density-functional theory for the description of the system dynamics. We exemplify this idea by defining an objective functional that on one hand attempts a large overlap with a target density and on the other hand minimizes the current. The latter requirement leads to optimized states with increased stability, which we prove with a few examples of one- and two-dimensional one-electron systems.

15 pages, 6 figures

References in corpus (4)

• Control of quantum phenomena: Past, present, and future
• Shaped-pulse optimisation of coherent soft-x-rays
• Diameter and Chirality Dependence of Exciton Properties in Carbon Nanotubes
• Attosecond control of electron dynamics in carbon monoxide

Cited by in corpus (5)

• Real-space grids and the Octopus code as tools for the development of new simulation approaches for electronic systems
• Searching for quantum optimal controls in the presence of singular critical points
• Searching for quantum optimal controls under severe constraints
• Optimal control theory for quantum-classical systems: Ehrenfest Molecular Dynamics based on time-dependent density-functional theory
• Searching for an optimal control in the presence of saddles on the quantum mechanical observable landscape