Accurate Qubit Control with Single Flux Quantum Pulses

Abstract: We describe the coherent manipulation of harmonic oscillator and qubit modes using resonant trains of single flux quantum pulses in place of microwaves. We show that coherent rotations are obtained for pulse-to-pulse spacing equal to the period of the oscillator. We consider a protocol for preparing bright and dark harmonic oscillator pointer states. Next we analyze rotations of a two-state qubit system. We calculate gate errors due to timing jitter of the single flux quantum pulses and due to weak anharmonicity of the qubit. We show that gate fidelities in excess of 99.9% are achievable for sequence lengths of order 20 ns.