Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-laser-science-and-quantum-information-processing-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2021/3/b/i/solution

For the stated Hamiltonian operator, put and . The Bloch vector obeys
Thus it rotates right-handedly about the fixed axis , preserving its length and its projection on that axis. For example, on resonance , a north-pole Bloch vector follows and reaches the south pole at .
Take , with the field phase chosen accordingly. The Hadamard gate is . Align the axis with and rotate through :
The factor is an irrelevant common global phase. This realizes the whole quantum gate, rather than merely its action on one input quantum state.
There is a basis-ordering convention to make explicit: this is the Hadamard gate matrix in the ordered basis chosen in part (a). If instead its definition is the usual ket rules and , its matrix in our order is . For that definition choose . Both conventions use the same pulse duration; the sign of the Rabi detuning selects the desired axis.

New to topics? Read the docs here!