Application of the Pontryagin Maximum Principle to the robust time-optimal control of two-level quantum systems

Abstract: We study the time-optimal robust control of a two-level quantum system subjected to field inhomogeneities. We apply the Pontryagin Maximum Principle and we introduce a reduced space onto which the optimal dynamics is projected down. This reduction leads to a complete analytical derivation of the optimal solution in terms of elliptic functions and elliptic integrals. Necessary optimality conditions are then obtained for the original system. These conditions are verified numerically and lead to the optimal control protocol. Various examples, ranging from state-to-state transfer to the generation of a Not gate, illustrate this study. The connection with other geometric optimization approaches that have been used to solve this problem is also discussed.