Non-Markovian discrete qubit dynamics

The study of open quantum systems is important for fundamental issues of quantum physics as well as for technological applications such as quantum information processing. The interaction of a quantum system with it's environment is usually detrimental for the quantum properties of the system and leads to decoherence. However, sometimes a coherent partial exchange of information takes place between the system and the environment and the dynamics of the open system becomes non-Markovian. In this article we study discrete open quantum system dynamics where single evolution step consist of local unitary transformation on the open system followed by a coupling unitary between the system and the environment. We implement experimentally a local control protocol for controlling the transition from Markovian to non-Markovian dynamics.