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  • Open Access

Pulse optimization in adiabatic quantum computation and control

D. Turyansky*, Y. Zolti*, Y. Cohen, and A. Pick†

  • *These authors contributed equally to this work.
  • †Contact author: adi.pick@mail.huji.il
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Phys. Rev. Research 8, 013206 – Published 24 February, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/dq3h-1k35

Abstract

We present a robust pulse optimization method for adiabatic population transfer and adiabatic quantum computation. The approach relies on identifying control pulses that keep the evolving quantum system close to its instantaneous ground state. By combining advanced gradient-free optimization tools with specialized cost functions for adiabatic control, it achieves both efficiency and robustness. To demonstrate its generality, we apply the method to three examples involving both atomic and superconducting qubits. We test different optimization cost functions and discretization bases, showing that the approach outperforms ensemble optimization. Finally, to verify its performance on real quantum hardware, we implement digitized adiabatic qubit control using the optimized pulses on the IBM quantum cloud.

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Phys. Rev. Research 8, 013206– Published 24 February, 2026
  • Received 15 July 2025
  • Accepted 2 February 2026
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

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