Quantum Optimal Control for Coherent Spin Dynamics of Radical Pairs via Pontryagin Maximum Principle

Abstract: This paper aims at devising the shape of the external electromagnetic field which drives the spin dynamics of radical pairs to quantum coherent state through maximization of the triplet-singlet yield in biochemical reactions. The model is a Schr\"{o}dinger system with spin Hamiltonians given by the sum of Zeeman interaction and hyperfine coupling interaction terms. We introduce a one-parameter family of optimal control problems by coupling the Schr\"{o}dinger system to a control field through filtering equations for the electromagnetic field. Fr\'echet differentiability and the Pontryagin Maximum Principle in Hilbert space is proved, and the bang-bang structure of the optimal control is established. A new iterative Pontryagin Maximum Principle (IPMP) method for the identification of the bang-bang optimal control is developed. Numerical simulations based on IPMP and the gradient projection method (GPM) in Hilbert spaces are pursued, and the convergence, stability and the regularization effect are demonstrated. Comparative analysis of filtering with regular optimal electromagnetic field versus non-filtering with bang-bang optimal field ({\it Abdulla et al, Quantum Sci. Technol., {\bf9}, 4, 2024}) demonstrates the change of the maxima of the singlet yield is less than 1\%. The results open a venue for a potential experimental work for the magnetoreception as a manifestation of quantum biological phenomena.