Incoherent Control of the Retinal Isomerization in Rhodopsin

We propose to control the retinal photoisomerization yield through the back-action dynamics imparted by a nonselective optical measurement of the molecular electronic state. This incoherent effect is easier to implement than comparable coherent pulse shaping techniques, and is also robust to environmental noise. A numerical simulation of the quantum dynamics shows that the isomerization yield of this important biomolecule can be substantially increased above the natural limit.