Reverse engineering of single-qubit quantum gates

In this work, we address the problem of designing single-qubit quantum gates by means of a linearly-polarized field. We show that any desired one-qubit gate corresponding to a special unitary matrix can be generated by a modulated sinusoidal field. The only approximation involved is the rotating-wave-approximation. The formula for the control field is obtained by inverting the equation of motion for the evolution operator and imposing the conditions for the desired gate. We give a simple procedure to obtain closed analytical formulas for the fields in terms of a priori chosen dynamical functions. Additionally, these dynamical functions can depend on tunable free parameters intentionally introduced to meet a desired performance criteria.