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arXiv:2507.01364

The robustness of composite pulses elucidated by classical mechanics: Stability around the globe

Jonathan Berkheim, David J. Tannor

Published Jul 2, 2025• 0 citations

Abstract

Composite Pulses (CPs) are widely used in Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), optical spectroscopy, optimal control experiments and quantum computing to manipulate systems that are well-described by a two-level Hamiltonian. A careful design of these pulses can allow the refocusing of an ensemble at a desired state, even if the ensemble experiences imperfections in the magnitude of the external field or resonance offsets. Since the introduction of CPs, several theoretical justifications for their robustness have been suggested. In this work, we suggest another justification based on the classical mechanical concept of a stability matrix. The motion on the Bloch Sphere is mapped to a canonical system of coordinates and the focusing of an ensemble corresponds to caustics, or the vanishing of an appropriate stability matrix element in the canonical coordinates. Our approach highlights the directionality of the refocusing of the ensemble on the Bloch Sphere, revealing how different ensembles refocus along different directions. The approach also clarifies when CPs can induce a change in the width of the ensemble as opposed to simply a rotation of the axes. As a case study, we investigate the $90(x)180(y)90(x)$ CP introduced by Levitt, where the approach provides a new perspective into why this CP is effective.

DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2507.01364

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Composite Pulses (CPs) are widely used in Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), optical spectroscopy, optimal control experiments and quantum computing to manipulate systems that are well-described by a two-level Hamiltonian. A careful design of these pulses can allow the refocusing of an ensemble at a desired state, even if the ensemble experiences imperfections in the magnitude of the external field or resonance offsets. Since the introduction of CPs, several theoretical justifications for their robustness have been suggested. In this work, we suggest another justification based on the classical mechanical concept of a stability matrix. The motion on the Bloch Sphere is mapped to a canonical system of coordinates and the focusing of an ensemble corresponds to caustics, or the vanishing of an appropriate stability matrix element in the canonical coordinates. Our approach highlights the directionality of the refocusing of the ensemble on the Bloch Sphere, revealing how different ensembles refocus along different directions. The approach also clarifies when CPs can induce a change in the width of the ensemble as opposed to simply a rotation of the axes. As a case study, we investigate the

90(x)180(y)90(x)

CP introduced by Levitt, where the approach provides a new perspective into why this CP is effective.

In nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), Composite Pulses (CPs) are widely used to correct for pulse imperfections, e.g., RF field inhomogeneity and resonance offset. Although robust pulse sequences have been developed throughout the years, the imperfection of the initial state has not been widely discussed in the literature as an additional systematic error. In previous work, we developed a classical canonical framework to perform stability analysis and used this as a measure of CP robustness. In that work, a single initial condition was allowed to evolve under various pulse imperfections. The current work extends this approach to

2D

distributions of initial conditions on the Bloch Sphere; the objective is to minimize the area in order to preserve coherence, while maximizing population inversion of the entire distribution. As a case study, we investigate Levitt's

90(x)180(y)90(x)

pulse sequence, when there is a spread in initial conditions. The canonical framework enables us to assess the robustness of Levitt's pulse sequence, and we find that it is maintained to a great extent even when considering a spread of initial conditions. Nevertheless, by conducting a numerical optimization, we have identified several variants of Levitt's pulse sequence that produce a larger coherent population inversion when there is a spread in initial conditions.

The precision of quantum operations is affected by unavoidable systematic errors. A composite pulse (CP), which has been well investigated in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), is a technique that suppresses the influence of systematic errors by replacing a single operation with a sequence of operations. In one-qubit operations, there are two typical systematic errors, Pulse Length Error (PLE) and Off Resonance Error (ORE). Recently, it was found that PLE robust CPs have a clear geometric property. In this study, we show that ORE robust CPs also have a simple geometric property, which is associated with trajectories on the Bloch sphere of the corresponding operations. We discuss the geometric property of ORE robust CPs using two examples.

Developing control fields (pulse sequences) that can compensate for the dispersion in the parameters governing the evolution of a quantum system is an important problem in coherent spectroscopy and quantum information processing. The use of composite pulses for compensating for dispersion in system dynamics is widely known and applied. In this paper, we introduce pulse elements for correcting pulse errors. These design methods are analytical and can be used to prove arbitrarily good robust performance. Furthermore, the time to compensation is superior to existing Fourier synthesis methods, which is critical for minimizing errors due to relaxation effects.

We propose a protocol for robust quantum state engineering using composite pulses (CPs) in four-level systems. The analytical expression of the propagator is derived for the implementation of universal single-qubit gates and the maximum superposition state. By carefully designing the relative phases between pulses, the CP sequences can compensate for the pulse area error to any desired order. We present two classes of CP sequences, one generating robust population inversion and the other generating robust superposition states. As applications, we employ the well-designed CP sequences to achieve the conversion of the W and Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger states with high fidelity in a Rydberg atomic system. It is shown that the CP sequences yield excellent robustness with respect to the pulse area errors, and they possess a short evolution time.

) pulse sequence, when there is a spread in initial conditions. The canonical framework enables us to assess the projected-area robustness of Levitt's pulse sequence, and we find that it is maintained to a great extent even when considering a spread of initial conditions. Nevertheless, by conducting a numerical optimization, we have identified several variants of Levitt's pulse sequence that produce a larger coherent population inversion when there is a spread in initial conditions. We then apply the methodology to constant-rotation pulses to give geometrical insight into their robustness and to contrast their mechanism with that of the distributed point-to-point dynamics.

We develop a method for controlling the ensemble states of a two-level quantum system on the Bloch sphere. A spectrum of resonance frequencies parametrizes the ensemble. The evolution of the ensemble states under externally applied controls is uniquely determined by their respective resonance frequencies. Therefore, the control fields must be designed to simultaneously evolve the ensemble states across the domain of resonance frequencies. The objective is to evolve the discretized quantum ensemble states from an arbitrary initial dispersion to a targeted final configuration on the Bloch sphere. The proposed method holds potential for broad applicability in areas such as nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), electron spin resonance (ESR), quantum computing and information processing, sampling-based learning control (SLC), quantum sensing and metrology, and quantum error correction.