High-fidelity and robust controlled-Z gates for superconducting transmon qubits. II. System-parameter uncertainties and overall errors

  1. Chia-Hsien Huang,
  2. and Hsi-Sheng Goan
In the companion paper (Part I), we developed an optimal-control framework to suppress intrinsic and decoherence-induced errors in controlled-Z (CZ) gates between directly coupled,
frequency-tunable transmons. Here, we extend this framework to incorporate uncertainties in coupling strength, anharmonicities, and zero-flux qubit frequencies, enabling the design of high-fidelity gates robust against noise and parameter uncertainties. We classify these uncertainties by whether they perturb the off-diagonal coupling strengths or the diagonal detunings of the Hamiltonian, and we identify distinct suppression mechanisms for each class. Coupling errors are mitigated through dynamical decoupling induced by strong detuning modulation. For a 30-ns gate, this strategy reduces the coupling error to 6.21×10−7 and tolerates coupling-strength uncertainties up to 2π×4 MHz while keeping total gate infidelity below 10−3. Detuning errors are minimized near a symmetric-detuning operating point that balances the two dominant leakage-mediated interactions. A 24-ns gate operated near this point tolerates individual uncertainties of up to 2π×5 MHz in each relevant diagonal parameter under the same infidelity threshold. We further optimize gate performance under realistic conditions where intrinsic errors, decoherence, and parameter uncertainties coexist across six representative stages of progressively improving hardware performance. The resulting stage-specific controls achieve lower infidelity and greater robustness. Together with the companion study (Part I), this framework offers a practical approach to balance speed, fidelity, and robustness while reducing the need for exhaustive characterization and frequent recalibration in large-scale superconducting quantum processors.

High-fidelity and robust controlled-Z gates for superconducting transmon qubits. I. Intrinsic errors and decoherence

  1. Chia-Hsien Huang,
  2. and Hsi-Sheng Goan
Fault-tolerant quantum computing requires quantum gates that combine short duration, high fidelity, and robustness to noise. As quantum processors scale, robustness becomes increasingly
important because exhaustive characterization and frequent recalibration of individual gates become impractical. We present a comprehensive optimal-control framework for controlled-Z (CZ) gates between directly coupled, frequency-tunable transmons that systematically accounts for intrinsic Hamiltonian errors and realistic decoherence mechanisms, including energy relaxation and dephasing. Using smooth, single-shot flux pulses, we obtain 12-ns CZ gates—close to the theoretical speed limit of 11.6 ns—with intrinsic errors suppressed to the 2×10−5 level. We construct dephasing noise models, calibrated against published experimental measurements, that capture fast dephasing from room-temperature control electronics and slow dephasing from 1/f flux noise. Using these models, we identify dephasing sweet spots that suppress sensitivity to dephasing noise. We further exploit transmon asymmetry as a design parameter to access distinct noise-resilient operating regimes. These results establish an experimentally applicable framework for balancing gate speed, fidelity, and noise robustness while reducing characterization and recalibration overhead.