Fast, high precision dynamics in quantum optimal control theory

Abstract: Quantum optimal control theory is becoming increasingly crucial as quantum devices become more precise, but the need to quickly optimize these systems classically remains a significant bottleneck in their operation. Here we present a new theoretical quantum control framework for much faster optimization than the state of the art by replacing standard time propagation with a product of short-time propagators, each calculated using the Magnus expansion. The derived formulas for exact series terms and their gradients, based on earlier approximate integrals in a simulation setting, allow us to subsume the high cost of calculating commutators and integrals as an initial overhead. This provides an order of magnitude speedup for quantum control optimization.