Variational protocols for emulating digital gates using analog control with always-on interactions

We design variational pulse sequences tailored for neutral atom quantum simulators and show that we can engineer layers of single-qubit and multi-qubit gates. As an application, we discuss how the proposed method can be used to perform refocusing algorithms, SWAP networks, and ultimately quantum chemistry simulations. While the theoretical protocol we develop still has experimental limitations, it paves the way, with some further optimisation, for the use of analog quantum processors for variational quantum algorithms, including those not previously considered compatible with analog mode.