Validity of rotating wave approximation in non-adiabatic holonomic quantum computation

Abstract: We examine the validity of the rotating wave approximation (RWA) in non-adiabatic holonomic single-qubit gates [New J. Phys. {\bf 14}, 103035 (2012)]. We demonstrate that the adoption of RWA may lead to a sharp decline in fidelity for rapid gate implementation and small energy separation between the excited and computational states. The validity of the RWA in the recent experimental realization [Nature (London) {\bf 496}, 482 (2013)] of non-adiabatic holonomic quantum computation for a superconducting qubit is examined.