NAPA: intermediate-level variational native-pulse ansatz for variational quantum algorithms

This paper proposes NAPA, an intermediate-level variational native-pulse ansatz for variational quantum algorithms (VQAs). Unlike most techniques that target gate ansatz, where the parameters are usually rotation angles of the gates, NAPA exploits the full advantages of VQAs by targeting control pulses such as microwave pulses on superconducting qubits. This approach minimizes errors such as over-rotation and under-rotation, which require elaborate calibrations in gate ansatz. The proposed design aims to improve the performance of VQAs in the Noisy Intermediate Scale Quantum (NISQ) era. HTML