Quantum feedback and adaptive measurements

Summary form only given. Although real-time feedback of measured signals is an essential component of sensing and control in classical settings, models for quantum feedback that are rigorous yet useful have only become possible since the advent of measurement-based quantum trajectory theory. The quantum feedback scenario introduces new concerns of coherence and measurement backaction, but recent work has shown that these can be treated properly in a formal integration of quantum trajectory theory with standard state-space formulations of filtering and control theory. Pioneering studies by H. M. Wiseman have shown that such models can be used to design and to analyze realistic schemes for adaptive homodyne measurement and for feedback control of atomic motion. Much of the ongoing research in our group focuses on the experimental implementation of such schemes. For a broad range of quantum feedback scenarios, certain recurring technical issues arise out of the need to perform complex, high-bandwidth processing of measured signals. We are developing a "rapid-prototyping" approach to refining signal processing and feedback algorithms via quantum trajectory simulation on a PC, followed by translation of the algorithms into hardware Description language (HDL).