Calibrating single-qubit gates by a two-dimensional Rabi oscillation

Abstract

We present and analyze a simple scheme to calibrate single–qubit gates. It determines the amplitude and phase difference between a quadrature pair of drives, as well as their common detuning from the qubit resonance. The method is based on a two–dimensional Rabi oscillation, a sequence of two pulses of varying length sourced from the drive pair. We demonstrate error diagnosis using this scheme on an ensemble of nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond and point out subtle pitfalls in its implementation.