  We theoretically consider a cross-resonance (CR) gate implemented by pulse
sequences proposed by Calderon-Vargas & Kestner, Phys. Rev. Lett. 118, 150502
(2017). These sequences mitigate systematic error to first order, but their
effectiveness is limited by one-qubit gate imperfections. Using additional
microwave control pulses, it is possible to tune the effective CR Hamiltonian
into a regime where these sequences operate optimally. This improves the
overall feasibility of these sequences by reducing the one-qubit operations
required for error correction. We illustrate this by simulating randomized
benchmarking for a system of weakly coupled transmons and show that while this
novel pulse sequence does not offer an advantage with the current state of the
art in transmons, it does improve the scaling of CR gate infidelity with
one-qubit gate infidelity.
