Shaped pulses for quantum computing

Quantum computers based on pulsed microwave operations are inherently sensitive to the pulse amplitude and detuning between the quantum bit and the microwave frequency. Designing techniques that can compensate both errors simultaneously have been challenging. Here we present a technique that achieves this goal by extending known numerical optimization schemes to obtain amplitude modulated microwave pulses robust against a large detuning range, and combining them with composite pulse techniques that are insensitive to amplitude errors. © 2007 The American Physical Society.