  The underlying mechanism for Adaptive Feedback Control in the experimental
photoisomerization of NK88 in methanol is exposed theoretically. With given
laboratory limitations on laser output, the complicated electric fields are
shown to achieve their targets in qualitatively simple ways. Further, control
over the cis population without laser limitations reveals an incoherent
pump-dump scenario as the optimal isomerization strategy. In neither case are
there substantial contributions from quantum multiple-path interference or from
nuclear wavepacket coherence. Environmentally induced decoherence is shown to
justify the use of a simplified theoretical model.
