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Main Authors: Kamen, Andrew T., Fine, Samuel, Bhattacharyya, Bikrant, Chong, Frederic T., Goldschmidt, Andy J.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.10349
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author Kamen, Andrew T.
Fine, Samuel
Bhattacharyya, Bikrant
Chong, Frederic T.
Goldschmidt, Andy J.
author_facet Kamen, Andrew T.
Fine, Samuel
Bhattacharyya, Bikrant
Chong, Frederic T.
Goldschmidt, Andy J.
contents Control pulses that nominally optimize fidelity are sensitive to routine hardware drift and modeling errors. Robust quantum optimal control seeks error-insensitive control pulses that maintain fidelity thresholds and obey hardware constraints. Distinct numerical approximations to the first-order error susceptibility include adjoint end-point and toggling-frame approaches. Although theoretically equivalent, we provide a novel, systematic study demonstrating important numerical differences between these two approaches. We also introduce a critical discretization correction to the widely-used toggling-frame robustness estimator, measurably improving its estimate of first-order error susceptibility. We accomplish our study by positioning robustness as a first-class objective within direct, constrained optimal control. Our approach uniquely handles control and fidelity constraints while cleanly isolating robustness for dedicated optimization. In both single- and two-qubit examples under realistic constraints, our approach provides an analytic edge for obtaining precise, physics-informed robustness.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2602_10349
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Comparing and correcting robustness metrics for quantum optimal control
Kamen, Andrew T.
Fine, Samuel
Bhattacharyya, Bikrant
Chong, Frederic T.
Goldschmidt, Andy J.
Quantum Physics
Control pulses that nominally optimize fidelity are sensitive to routine hardware drift and modeling errors. Robust quantum optimal control seeks error-insensitive control pulses that maintain fidelity thresholds and obey hardware constraints. Distinct numerical approximations to the first-order error susceptibility include adjoint end-point and toggling-frame approaches. Although theoretically equivalent, we provide a novel, systematic study demonstrating important numerical differences between these two approaches. We also introduce a critical discretization correction to the widely-used toggling-frame robustness estimator, measurably improving its estimate of first-order error susceptibility. We accomplish our study by positioning robustness as a first-class objective within direct, constrained optimal control. Our approach uniquely handles control and fidelity constraints while cleanly isolating robustness for dedicated optimization. In both single- and two-qubit examples under realistic constraints, our approach provides an analytic edge for obtaining precise, physics-informed robustness.
title Comparing and correcting robustness metrics for quantum optimal control
topic Quantum Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.10349