Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

arXiv:2609.37296

Parametric DRAG for leakage-suppressed exchange gates in superconducting qubits

Yiwen Li, Xinsheng Tan, Yang Yu

quant-phSubmitted Sep 29, 2026• Announced Sep 30, 2026• 0 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Programmable exchange interactions support quantum gates and many-body simulation in superconducting circuits. Fast excitation transfer, however, opens two leakage pathways in weakly anharmonic transmons, degrading gates and driving simulated dynamics outside the encoded state space. We introduce parametric derivative removal by adiabatic gate (PDRAG) to suppress both pathways while preserving the target exchange. Their conjugate structure determines first- and second-derivative corrections implemented through one real frequency command. At $g/2π=100$ MHz, calibrated PDRAG achieves a geometric-mean leakage reduction of $5.27\times10^5$ relative to the base pulse across 12.5--35 ns in Duffing simulations. At 13 ns, endpoint leakage reaches $1.98\times10^{-7}$ for the calibrated full-exchange pulse. Transferring the derivative coefficients to a charge Hamiltonian gives a mean 893-fold reduction over 12.5--22 ns after amplitude and carrier recalibration. Floquet return interference and charge-induced gap shifts explain the calibration and transfer gains, connecting compact pulse design to leakage-suppressed programmable interactions.

Related papers

Reducing Leakage of Single-Qubit Gates for Superconducting Quantum Processors Using Analytical Control Pulse Envelopes

Eric Hyyppä, Antti P. Vepsäläinen, Miha Papič +10 more

Improving the speed and fidelity of quantum logic gates is essential to reach quantum advantage with future quantum computers. However, fast logic gates lead to increased leakage errors in superconducting quantum processors based on qubits with low anharmonicity, such as transmons. To reduce leakage errors, we propose and experimentally demonstrate two new analytical methods, Fourier ansatz spectrum tuning derivative removal by adiabatic gate (FAST DRAG) and higher-derivative (HD) DRAG, both of which enable shaping single-qubit control pulses in the frequency domain to achieve stronger suppression of leakage transitions compared to previously demonstrated pulse shapes. Using the new methods to suppress the e f transition of a transmon qubit with an anharmonicity of − 212 MHz, we implement R X ( π / 2 ) gates achieving a leakage error below 3.0 × 10 − 5 down to a gate duration of 6.25 ns without the need for iterative closed-loop optimization. The obtained leakage error represents a 20-fold reduction in leakage compared to a conventional cosine DRAG pulse. Employing the FAST DRAG method, we further achieve an error per gate of ( 1.56 ± 0.07 ) × 10 − 4 at a 7.9-ns gate duration, outperforming conventional pulse shapes both in terms of error and gate speed. Furthermore, we study error-amplifying measurements for the characterization of temporal microwave control-pulse distortions, and demonstrate that non-Markovian coherent errors caused by such distortions may be a significant source of error for sub-10-ns single-qubit gates unless corrected using predistortion. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

arXiv:2402.17757•PRX Quantum•Sep 19, 2024•67 citations

Separate Control of Transient Leakage Exposure and Endpoint Leakage in Fast Transmon Gates

Haoran Yang, Fudong Liu, Weilong Wang +2 more

Leakage to noncomputational states limits the speed of single-qubit gates in weakly anharmonic transmons. Conventional pulse-shaping methods, including derivative removal by adiabatic gate (DRAG), primarily suppress the leakage remaining at the end of a gate. Here we demonstrate that endpoint leakage and the transient leakage population that accumulates during the gate represent distinct control objectives. Endpoint leakage is associated with the drive spectrum at the anharmonicity, whereas transient exposure depends on spectral weight over a finite frequency band and governs the additional leakage induced by dephasing. A spectral null at the leakage transition therefore suppresses the endpoint amplitude without necessarily reducing transient exposure. Based on this distinction, we introduce a path--endpoint separation pulse that combines transient-path shaping with a two-tone endpoint correction. For a $10$ ns $R_X(π/2)$ gate with an anharmonicity magnitude of $0.2$ GHz, numerical simulations show a $21\%$ reduction in transient exposure relative to cosine DRAG and a corresponding $20\%$ reduction in dephasing-induced excess leakage. The two correction tones further suppress residual leakage through the $|2\rangle$ and $|3\rangle$ channels, lowering the coherent endpoint leakage from approximately $7\times10^{-7}$ to $3\times10^{-8}$ without increasing transient exposure. These results establish transient exposure and endpoint leakage as complementary targets for the design of fast transmon gates.

quant-pharXiv:2607.05779•Jul 8, 2026•0 citations

Ultrafast Single Qubit Gates through Multi-Photon Transition Removal

Y. Gao, A. Galicia, J. D. Da Costa Jesus +12 more

One of the main enablers in quantum computing is having qubit control that is precise and fast. However, qubits typically have multilevel structures making them prone to unwanted transitions from fast gates. This leakage out of the computational subspace is especially detrimental to algorithms as it has been observed to cause long-lived errors, such as in quantum error correction. This forces a choice between either achieving fast gates or having low leakage. Previous works focus on suppressing leakage by mitigating the first to second excited state transition, overlooking multi-photon transitions, and achieving faster gates with further reductions in leakage has remained elusive. Here, we demonstrate single qubit gates with a total leakage error consistently below $2.0\times10^{-5}$, and obtain fidelities above $99.98\%$ for pulse durations down to 6.8 ns for both $X$ and $X/2$ gates. This is achieved by removing direct transitions beyond nearest-neighbor levels using a double recursive implementation of the Derivative Removal by Adiabatic Gate (DRAG) method, which we name the R2D method. Moreover, we find that at such short gate durations and strong driving strengths the main error source is from these higher order transitions. This is all shown in the widely-used superconducting transmon qubit, which has a weakly anharmonic level structure and suffers from higher order transitions significantly. We also introduce an approach for amplifying leakage error that can precisely quantify leakage rates below $10^{-6}$. The presented approach can be readily applied to other qubit types as well.

quant-pharXiv:2511.22365•Nature Communications•Nov 28, 2025•0 citations

Leakage reduction in fast superconducting qubit gates via optimal control

M. Werninghaus, D. J. Egger, F. Roy +3 more

Abstract Reaching high-speed, high-fidelity qubit operations requires precise control over the shape of the underlying pulses. For weakly anharmonic systems, such as superconducting transmon qubits, short gates lead to leakage to states outside of the computational subspace. Control pulses designed with open-loop optimal control may reduce such leakage. However, model inaccuracies can severely limit the usability of such pulses. We implemented a closed-loop optimization that simultaneously adapts all control parameters based on measurements of a cost function built from Clifford gates. We directly optimize the amplitude and phase of each sample point of the digitized control pulse. We thereby fully exploit the capabilities of the pulse generation electronics and create a 4.16 ns single-qubit pulse with 99.76 % fidelity and 0.044 % leakage. This is a sevenfold reduction of the leakage rate and a threefold reduction in standard errors of the best DRAG pulse we have calibrated at such short durations on the same system.

arXiv:2003.05952•npj Quantum Information•Jan 29, 2021•192 citations

Active Leakage Cancellation in Single Qubit Gates

B. Chiaro, Yaxing Zhang

The ability to perform fast and accurate rotations between the computational basis states of quantum bits is one of the most fundamental requirements for building a quantum computer. Because physical qubits generally contain more than two levels, faster gates often result in a higher leakage rate outside of the computational space. In this Letter, we enhance the state-of-the-art single qubit gate by introducing active leakage cancellation. This is accomplished via a second drive tone near the leakage transition such that we cancel the leakage caused by the main drive. Furthermore, we describe a measurement sequence that can be used to calibrate the parameters of this leakage cancellation drive. Finally, we apply the technique to superconducting transmon qubits and achieve leakage suppression by up to a factor of 20 when compared to pulses shaped with the standard derivative removal by adiabatic gate technique. This results in a coherence-limited gate infidelity of 7.5×10^{-5} with leakage below 10^{-5} level, for a 10 ns π/2 gate and 196 MHz qubit anharmonicity.

arXiv:2503.14731•Physical Review Letters•Aug 26, 2025•10 citations

Simple analytical flux-tuned iSWAP pulses for leakage suppression

Dimitrios Georgiadis, Boxi Li, Asier Galicia +3 more

Fast, high-fidelity two-qubit gates are a key requirement for fault-tolerant quantum computation. Tunable coupler architectures provide a flexible approach for implementing entangling gates through flux control with large on-off ratios, but fast flux modulation can induce diabatic transitions and population leakage to non-computational states, limiting gate performance. Here we present an analytical flux control method enabling derivative removal by adiabatic gate ($Φ$-DRAG) for suppressing leakage in flux tunable two-qubit gates. We show that $Φ$-DRAG differs fundamentally from conventional microwave implementations and derive modified flux modulation protocols that suppress leakage below $10^{-4}$ for fast entangling gates. The method remains effective across a range of asymmetry between qubit anharmonicities and different circuit parameters, enabling high-fidelity two-qubit gates within the fifteen nanosecond range.

quant-pharXiv:2606.13052•Jun 12, 2026•0 citations
Programmable exchange interactions support quantum gates and many-body simulation in superconducting circuits. Fast excitation transfer, however, opens two leakage pathways in weakly anharmonic transmons, degrading gates and driving simulated dynamics outside the encoded state space. We introduce parametric derivative removal by adiabatic gate (PDRAG) to suppress both pathways while preserving the target exchange. Their conjugate structure determines first- and second-derivative corrections implemented through one real frequency command. At g/2π=100g/2π=100g/2π=100 MHz, calibrated PDRAG achieves a geometric-mean leakage reduction of 5.27×1055.27\times10^55.27×105 relative to the base pulse across 12.5--35 ns in Duffing simulations. At 13 ns, endpoint leakage reaches 1.98×10−71.98\times10^{-7}1.98×10−7 for the calibrated full-exchange pulse. Transferring the derivative coefficients to a charge Hamiltonian gives a mean 893-fold reduction over 12.5--22 ns after amplitude and carrier recalibration. Floquet return interference and charge-induced gap shifts explain the calibration and transfer gains, connecting compact pulse design to leakage-suppressed programmable interactions.
Improving the speed and fidelity of quantum logic gates is essential to reach quantum advantage with future quantum computers. However, fast logic gates lead to increased leakage errors in superconducting quantum processors based on qubits with low anharmonicity, such as transmons. To reduce leakage errors, we propose and experimentally demonstrate two new analytical methods, Fourier ansatz spectrum tuning derivative removal by adiabatic gate (FAST DRAG) and higher-derivative (HD) DRAG, both of which enable shaping single-qubit control pulses in the frequency domain to achieve stronger suppression of leakage transitions compared to previously demonstrated pulse shapes. Using the new methods to suppress the e f transition of a transmon qubit with an anharmonicity of − 212 MHz, we implement R X ( π / 2 ) gates achieving a leakage error below 3.0 × 10 − 5 down to a gate duration of 6.25 ns without the need for iterative closed-loop optimization. The obtained leakage error represents a 20-fold reduction in leakage compared to a conventional cosine DRAG pulse. Employing the FAST DRAG method, we further achieve an error per gate of ( 1.56 ± 0.07 ) × 10 − 4 at a 7.9-ns gate duration, outperforming conventional pulse shapes both in terms of error and gate speed. Furthermore, we study error-amplifying measurements for the characterization of temporal microwave control-pulse distortions, and demonstrate that non-Markovian coherent errors caused by such distortions may be a significant source of error for sub-10-ns single-qubit gates unless corrected using predistortion. Published by the American Physical Society 2024
Leakage to noncomputational states limits the speed of single-qubit gates in weakly anharmonic transmons. Conventional pulse-shaping methods, including derivative removal by adiabatic gate (DRAG), primarily suppress the leakage remaining at the end of a gate. Here we demonstrate that endpoint leakage and the transient leakage population that accumulates during the gate represent distinct control objectives. Endpoint leakage is associated with the drive spectrum at the anharmonicity, whereas transient exposure depends on spectral weight over a finite frequency band and governs the additional leakage induced by dephasing. A spectral null at the leakage transition therefore suppresses the endpoint amplitude without necessarily reducing transient exposure. Based on this distinction, we introduce a path--endpoint separation pulse that combines transient-path shaping with a two-tone endpoint correction. For a 101010 ns RX(π/2)R_X(π/2)RX​(π/2) gate with an anharmonicity magnitude of 0.20.20.2 GHz, numerical simulations show a 21%21\%21% reduction in transient exposure relative to cosine DRAG and a corresponding 20%20\%20% reduction in dephasing-induced excess leakage. The two correction tones further suppress residual leakage through the ∣2⟩|2\rangle∣2⟩ and ∣3⟩|3\rangle∣3⟩ channels, lowering the coherent endpoint leakage from approximately 7×10−77\times10^{-7}7×10−7 to 3×10−83\times10^{-8}3×10−8 without increasing transient exposure. These results establish transient exposure and endpoint leakage as complementary targets for the design of fast transmon gates.
One of the main enablers in quantum computing is having qubit control that is precise and fast. However, qubits typically have multilevel structures making them prone to unwanted transitions from fast gates. This leakage out of the computational subspace is especially detrimental to algorithms as it has been observed to cause long-lived errors, such as in quantum error correction. This forces a choice between either achieving fast gates or having low leakage. Previous works focus on suppressing leakage by mitigating the first to second excited state transition, overlooking multi-photon transitions, and achieving faster gates with further reductions in leakage has remained elusive. Here, we demonstrate single qubit gates with a total leakage error consistently below 2.0×10−52.0\times10^{-5}2.0×10−5, and obtain fidelities above 99.98%99.98\%99.98% for pulse durations down to 6.8 ns for both XXX and X/2X/2X/2 gates. This is achieved by removing direct transitions beyond nearest-neighbor levels using a double recursive implementation of the Derivative Removal by Adiabatic Gate (DRAG) method, which we name the R2D method. Moreover, we find that at such short gate durations and strong driving strengths the main error source is from these higher order transitions. This is all shown in the widely-used superconducting transmon qubit, which has a weakly anharmonic level structure and suffers from higher order transitions significantly. We also introduce an approach for amplifying leakage error that can precisely quantify leakage rates below 10−610^{-6}10−6. The presented approach can be readily applied to other qubit types as well.
Abstract Reaching high-speed, high-fidelity qubit operations requires precise control over the shape of the underlying pulses. For weakly anharmonic systems, such as superconducting transmon qubits, short gates lead to leakage to states outside of the computational subspace. Control pulses designed with open-loop optimal control may reduce such leakage. However, model inaccuracies can severely limit the usability of such pulses. We implemented a closed-loop optimization that simultaneously adapts all control parameters based on measurements of a cost function built from Clifford gates. We directly optimize the amplitude and phase of each sample point of the digitized control pulse. We thereby fully exploit the capabilities of the pulse generation electronics and create a 4.16 ns single-qubit pulse with 99.76 % fidelity and 0.044 % leakage. This is a sevenfold reduction of the leakage rate and a threefold reduction in standard errors of the best DRAG pulse we have calibrated at such short durations on the same system.
The ability to perform fast and accurate rotations between the computational basis states of quantum bits is one of the most fundamental requirements for building a quantum computer. Because physical qubits generally contain more than two levels, faster gates often result in a higher leakage rate outside of the computational space. In this Letter, we enhance the state-of-the-art single qubit gate by introducing active leakage cancellation. This is accomplished via a second drive tone near the leakage transition such that we cancel the leakage caused by the main drive. Furthermore, we describe a measurement sequence that can be used to calibrate the parameters of this leakage cancellation drive. Finally, we apply the technique to superconducting transmon qubits and achieve leakage suppression by up to a factor of 20 when compared to pulses shaped with the standard derivative removal by adiabatic gate technique. This results in a coherence-limited gate infidelity of 7.5×10^{-5} with leakage below 10^{-5} level, for a 10 ns π/2 gate and 196 MHz qubit anharmonicity.
Fast, high-fidelity two-qubit gates are a key requirement for fault-tolerant quantum computation. Tunable coupler architectures provide a flexible approach for implementing entangling gates through flux control with large on-off ratios, but fast flux modulation can induce diabatic transitions and population leakage to non-computational states, limiting gate performance. Here we present an analytical flux control method enabling derivative removal by adiabatic gate (ΦΦΦ-DRAG) for suppressing leakage in flux tunable two-qubit gates. We show that ΦΦΦ-DRAG differs fundamentally from conventional microwave implementations and derive modified flux modulation protocols that suppress leakage below 10−410^{-4}10−4 for fast entangling gates. The method remains effective across a range of asymmetry between qubit anharmonicities and different circuit parameters, enabling high-fidelity two-qubit gates within the fifteen nanosecond range.