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arXiv:2603.08522

The robustness of composite pulses elucidated by classical mechanics. II. The role of initial state imperfection

Jonathan Berkheim, David J. Tannor

physics.atom-phquant-phSubmitted Mar 9, 2026• Announced Mar 10, 2026
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Abstract

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.

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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 2D2D2D 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)90(x)180(y)90(x)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.
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)90(x)180(y)90(x)90(x)180(y)90(x) CP introduced by Levitt, where the approach provides a new perspective into why this CP is effective.
) 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.
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.
Systematic errors in quantum operations can be the dominating source of imperfection in achieving control over quantum systems. This problem, which has been well studied in nuclear magnetic resonance, can be addressed by replacing single operations with composite sequences of pulsed operations, which cause errors to cancel by symmetry. Remarkably, this can be achieved without knowledge of the amount of error ϵϵϵ. Independent of the initial state of the system, current techniques allow the error to be reduced to O(ϵ3)O({ϵ}^{3})O(ϵ3). Here, we extend the composite pulse technique to cancel errors to O(ϵn)O({ϵ}^{n})O(ϵn), for arbitrary nnn.
Composite pulse sequences designed for nuclear magnetic resonance experiments are currently being applied in many quantum information processing technologies. We present an analysis of a family of composite pulse sequences used to address systematic pulse-length errors in the execution of quantum gates. It has been demonstrated by Cummins et al. [Phys. Rev. A 67, 042308 (2003)] that for this family of composite pulse sequences, the fidelity of the resulting unitary operation compared with the ideal unitary operation is $1\ensuremath{-}C{ϵ}^{6}$, where ϵϵϵ is the fractional error in the length of the pulse. We derive an exact expression for the sixth-order coefficient CCC and from this deduce conditions under which this sixth-order dependence is observed. We also present pulse sequences which achieve the same fidelity.
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.