We investigate the nature of the pulse sequence so that unwanted transitions in quantum systems can be inhibited optimally. For this purpose we show that the sequence of pulses proposed by Uhrig [Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 100504 (2007)] in the context of inhibition of environmental dephasing effects is optimal. We derive exact results for inhibiting the transitions and confirm the results numerically. We posit a very significant improvement by usage of the Uhrig sequence over an equidistant sequence in decoupling a quantum system from unwanted transitions. The physics of inhibition is the destructive interference between transition amplitudes before and after each pulse.

• Received 11 October 2010

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.83.012324