  We consider a universal set of quantum gates encoded within a perturbed
decoherence-free subspace of four physical qubits. Using second-order
perturbation theory and a measuring device modeled by an infinite set of
harmonic oscillators, simply coupled to the system, we show that continuous
observation of the coupling agent induces inhibition of the decoherence due to
spurious perturbations. We thus advance the idea of protecting or even creating
a decoherence-free subspace for processing quantum information.
