  Decoherence-Free Subsystems (DFS) are a powerful means of protecting quantum
information against noise with known symmetry properties. Although Hamiltonians
theoretically exist that can implement a universal set of logic gates on DFS
encoded qubits without ever leaving the protected subsystem, the natural
Hamiltonians that are available in specific implementations do not necessarily
have this property. Here we describe some of the principles that can be used in
such cases to operate on encoded qubits without losing the protection offered
by the DFS. In particular, we show how dynamical decoupling can be used to
control decoherence during the unavoidable excursions outside of the DFS. By
means of cumulant expansions, we show how the fidelity of quantum gates
implemented by this method on a simple two-physical-qubit DFS depends on the
correlation time of the noise responsible for decoherence. We further show by
means of numerical simulations how our previously introduced "strongly
modulating pulses" for NMR quantum information processing can permit
high-fidelity operations on multiple DFS encoded qubits in practice, provided
that the rate at which the system can be modulated is fast compared to the
correlation time of the noise. The principles thereby illustrated are expected
to be broadly applicable to many implementations of quantum information
processors based on DFS encoded qubits.
