  We evaluate various sources of errors that occur when attempting to produce a
specified coherent change of a two-state quantum system using six popular
coherent control techniques: resonant excitation, adiabatic following,
composite adiabatic passage, universal composite pulses, shortcut to
adiabaticity, and single-shot shaped pulses. As error sources we consider
spatial intensity distribution, transit time variation, inhomogeneous
broadening, Doppler broadening, unwanted chirp and shape errors. For the
various error types different techniques emerge as the best performers but
overall, we find that universal composite pulses perform most consistently and
are most resilient to errors compared to all other procedures.
