  We investigate a distributed optimal control problem for a phase field model
of Cahn-Hilliard type. The model describes two-species phase segregation on an
atomic lattice under the presence of diffusion; it has been recently introduced
by the same authors in arXiv:1103.4585v1 [math.AP] and consists of a system of
two highly nonlinearly coupled PDEs. For this reason, standard arguments of
optimal control theory do not apply directly, although the control constraints
and the cost functional are of standard type. We show that the problem admits a
solution, and we derive the first-order necessary conditions of optimality.
