- Open Access
Superconducting-qubit gates robust to parameter fluctuations
Phys. Rev. Applied 25, 054037 – Published 14 May, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/tf39-n6s3
Abstract
State-of-the-art single-qubit gates on superconducting transmon qubits can achieve the fidelities required for error-corrected computations; however, parameter fluctuations due to qubit instabilities, environmental changes, and control inaccuracies make it difficult to maintain this performance. To mitigate the effects of these parameter variations, we numerically derive gates that are robust to amplitude and frequency errors using gradient-ascent pulse engineering. We analyze how fluctuations in qubit frequency, drive amplitude, and coherence affect gate performance over time. The robust pulses suppress coherent errors from drive-amplitude drifts over 15 times more than a Gaussian pulse with derivative removal by adiabatic gate (DRAG) corrections. Furthermore, the robust gates, originally designed to compensate for quasistatic errors, also demonstrate resilience to stochastic, time-dependent noise, which is reflected in the dephasing time. They suppress added errors during increases in dephasing by up to 1.7 times more than DRAG.
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