A critically damped quantum search may not necessarily be optimal

We explore the rate at which the target state is obtained in a damped quantum search of an Ising system. As the number of target states is reduced, the damped quantum search gives a higher probability of success than that of the classical search. For any system in general, a new damping parameter was obtained from an optimization of the damped quantum search. Application of the optimum damping parameter per iteration on the damped quantum search shows a significant improvement of the probability of success over the critically damped quantum search.