We present a systematic SU(2) approach for construction of composite sequences of pulses with smooth temporal shapes that produce high-fidelity two-state excitation profiles. This makes possible the application of composite pulses to quantum control and quantum information processing with short and ultrashort laser pulses. We present an exact analytic formula for the composite phases for arbitrarily accurate broadband pulses and examples of narrowband, passband, and fractional-$\pi$ pulses as well as composite pulses with detuning compensation.

• Received 23 October 2010

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.83.053420