A quantum system in a condensed phase undergoes strong dissipative processes. The last decades have seen the rise of experimental and theoretical approaches for gaining control over dissipative phenomena. From a theoretical viewpoint it is important to model such processes in a rigorous way. An efficient and accurate method to find control fields is optimal control theory (OCT). In this Letter, a control scheme relying on OCT with time-dependent targets is employed to minimize dissipation, modeled within the surrogate Hamiltonian approach, on adsorbate-surface systems.

The photodesorption of CO from TiO2(110) by femtosecond pulses is investigated with the Surrogate Hamiltonian approach. The aim of the study is to resolve the relaxation mechanism and forecast the lifetime of the exited state based on a microscopic description of the excitation and relaxation processes. The parameters characterizing the system are obtained from ab initio and Density Functional Theory-calculations with one parameter estimated from physical considerations and convergence studies. Two electronic states are considered and the relaxation is assumed to be due to the interaction of the excited adsorbate with electron hole pairs in the surface. Desorption probabilities and velocity distributions of the desorbing molecules are calculated and an exited state lifetime is predicted. Throughout this paper atomic units, i.e., ℏ = me = e = a0 = 1, have been used unless otherwise stated.

In this paper, the Surrogate Hamiltonian approach is employed in order to study electronic relaxation in femtosecond laserinduced desorption experiments of CO from NiO(100). The study is based on ab initio calculations and a microscopic description of the NiO(100)-surface and the relaxation mechanism developed by Koch et al. The relaxation mechanism is assumed to be of dipole-dipole interaction nature, where the transition dipole moment of the adsorbate interacts with surface electron-hole pairs. In the Surrogate Hamiltonian approach the electron-hole pairs are treated as two-level systems and are described by excitation energy and a dipole charge. The Surrogate Hamiltonian parameters and potential energy surfaces used are obtained from ab initio calculations. The desorption probability and the velocity distributions of the desorbing molecules are calculated and an excited state lifetime is predicted. Throughout this paper atomic units, i.e. = m e = e = a 0 = 1, have been used unless otherwise stated.

In this paper, control of open quantum systems with emphasis on the control of surface photochemical reactions is presented. A quantum system in a condensed phase undergoes strong dissipative processes. From a theoretical viewpoint, it is important to model such processes in a rigorous way. In this work, the description of open quantum systems is realized within the surrogate hamiltonian approach [R. Baer and R. Kosloff, J. Chem. Phys. 106, 8862 (1997)]. An efficient and accurate method to find control fields is optimal control theory (OCT) [W. Zhu, J. Botina, and H. Rabitz, J. Chem. Phys. 108, 1953 (1998); Y. Ohtsuki, G. Turinici, and H. Rabitz, J. Chem. Phys. 120, 5509 (2004)]. To gain control of open quantum systems, the surrogate hamiltonian approach and OCT, with time-dependent targets, are combined. Three open quantum systems are investigated by the combined method, a harmonic oscillator immersed in an ohmic bath, CO adsorbed on a platinum surface, and NO adsorbed on a nickel oxide surface. Throughout this paper, atomic units, i.e., ℏ = m(e) = e = a(0) = 1, have been used unless otherwise stated.