  We investigate the effect of a non-Markovian, structured reservoir on an open
Heisenberg spin chain. We establish a coherent self-feedback mechanism as the
reservoir couples frequency-dependent to the spin chain. Thus, loss and driving
take place due to the interaction of the spin chain with its own past. This new
paradigm of non-Markovian imposed boundary-driving allows to discuss a new kind
of non-equilibrium steady-state. We show that for certain parameters even in
the long-time limit persistent oscillations occur within the chain. Moreover,
we demonstrate that the conditions for these oscillations and excitation
trapping depend on the characteristics of the chain, thus making it possible to
characterize a chain by detection of its emitted signal under influence of
self-feedback.
