Qubit gates using hyperbolic secant pulses

Published

April 7, 2017

Author(s)

Hsiang S. Ku, Junling Long, Xian Wu, Mustafa Bal, Russell Lake, Edwin Barnes, Sophia Economou, David P. Pappas

Abstract

It has been known since the early days of quantum mechanics that hyperbolic secant pulses possess the unique property that they can perform cyclic evolution on two-level quantum systems independently of the pulse detuning. More recently, it was realized that they induce detuning- controlled phases without changing state populations. Here, we experimentally demonstrate the properties of hyperbolic secant pulses on superconducting transmon qubits and contrast them with the more commonly used Gaussian and square waves. We further show that these properties can be exploited to implement phase gates, nominally without exiting the computational subspace. This enables us to demonstrate the first microwave-driven Z-gates with a single control parameter, the detuning.

Citation

Physical Review Letters

Volume

96

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.1103/physreva.96.042339

Local Download

Keywords

qubit, quantum mechanics, hyperbolic secant pulses, cyclic evolution, two-level quantum systems, pulse detuning, transmon qubits, Gaussian, square waves, computational subspace, microwave-driven Z-gates

Citation

Ku, H. , Long, J. , Wu, X. , Bal, M. , Lake, R. , Barnes, E. , Economou, S. and Pappas, D. (2017), Qubit gates using hyperbolic secant pulses, Physical Review Letters, [online], https://doi.org/10.1103/physreva.96.042339 (Accessed October 10, 2025)