  High-fidelity qubit initialization is of significance for efficient error
correction in fault tolerant quantum algorithms. Combining two best worlds,
speed and robustness, to achieve high-fidelity state preparation and
manipulation is challenging in quantum systems, where qubits are closely spaced
in frequency. Motivated by the concept of shortcut to adiabaticity, we
theoretically propose the shortcut pulses via inverse engineering and further
optimize the pulses with respect to systematic errors in frequency detuning and
Rabi frequency. Such protocol, relevant to frequency selectivity, is applied to
rare-earth ions qubit system, where the excitation of frequency-neighboring
qubits should be prevented as well. Furthermore, comparison with adiabatic
complex hyperbolic secant pulses shows that these dedicated initialization
pulses can reduce the time that ions spend in the excited state by a factor of
6, which is important in coherence time limited systems to approach an error
rate manageable by quantum error correction. The approach may also be
applicable to superconducting qubits, and any other systems where qubits are
addressed in frequency.
