Superconducting qubits are a promising route to achieving large-scale quantum computers. A key challenge in realising large-scale superconducting quantum processors involves mitigatingfrequency collisions. In this paper, we present an approach to tuning fixed-frequency qubits with the use of an electron beam to locally anneal the Josephson junction. We demonstrate the ability to both increase and decrease the junction barrier resistance. The technique shows an improvement in wafer scale frequency targetting by assessing the frequency collisions in our qubit architecture. Coherence measurements are also done to evaluate the performance before and after tuning. The tuning process utilises a standard electron beam lithography system, ensuring reproducibility and implementation by any group capable of fabricating these Josephson junctions. This technique has the potential to significantly improve the performance of large-scale quantum computing systems, thereby paving the way for the future of quantum computing.
Sensing and metrology play an important role in fundamental science and applications by fulfilling the ever-present need for more precise data sets and by allowing researchers to makemore reliable conclusions on the validity of theoretical models. Sensors are ubiquitous. They are used in applications across a diverse range of fields including gravity imaging, geology, navigation, security, timekeeping, spectroscopy, chemistry, magnetometry, healthcare, and medicine. Current progress in quantum technologies has inevitably triggered the exploration of the use of quantum systems as sensors with new and improved capabilities. This article describes the optimization of the quantum-enhanced sensing of external magnetic fluxes with a Kitaev phase estimation algorithm based on a sensor with tuneable transmon qubits. It provides the optimal flux biasing point for sensors with different maximal qubit transition frequencies. An estimation of decoherence rates is made for a given design. The use of 2− and 3−qubit entangled states for sensing are compared in simulation with the single qubit case. The flux sensing accuracy reaches 10−8⋅Φ0 and scales with time as ∼ 1/t which proves the speed-up of sensing with high ultimate accuracy.
Electromagnetic filtering is essential for the coherent control, operation and readout of superconducting quantum circuits at milliKelvin temperatures. The suppression of spurious modesaround the transition frequencies of a few GHz is well understood and mainly achieved by on-chip and package considerations. Noise photons of higher frequencies — beyond the pair-breaking energies — cause decoherence, and require spectral engineering before reaching the packaged quantum chip. The external wires through the refrigerator down to the quantum circuit provides a direct path, and this article contains quantitative analysis and experimental data for noise photon flux through the coaxial filtered wiring. The coaxial cable attenuation and noise photon flux for typical wiring configurations are provided, and compact cryogenic microwave low-pass filters with CR-110 and Esorb-230 absorptive dielectric fillings along with experimental data at room and cryogenic temperatures and up to 70 GHz presented. The filter cut-off frequencies between 1 to 10 GHz are set by the filter length, and the roll-off is material dependent. The relative dielectric permittivity and magnetic permeability for the Esorb-230 material in the pair-breaking frequency range from 75 to 110 GHz are measured, and the filter properties in this frequency range are calculated. The filter contribution to the noise photon flux implies a dramatic reduction, proving their usefulness for experiments with superconducting quantum systems.
Josephson tunnel junctions are the centerpiece of almost any superconducting electronic circuit, including qubits. Typically, the junctions for qubits are fabricated using shadow evaporationtechniques to reduce dielectric loss contributions from the superconducting film interfaces. In recent years, however, sub-micron scale overlap junctions have started to attract attention. Compared to shadow mask techniques, neither an angle dependent deposition nor free-standing bridges or overlaps are needed, which are significant limitations for wafer-scale processing. This comes at the cost of breaking the vacuum during fabrication, but simplifies integration in multi-layered circuits, implementation of vastly different junction sizes, and enables fabrication on a larger scale in an industrially-standardized process. In this work, we demonstrate the feasibility of a subtractive process for fabrication of overlap junctions. We evaluate the coherence properties of the junctions by employing them in superconducting transmon qubits. In time domain experiments, we find that both, the qubit life- and coherence time of our best device, are on average greater than 20 μs. Finally, we discuss potential improvements to our technique. This work paves the way towards a more standardized process flow with advanced materials and growth processes, and constitutes an important step for large scale fabrication of superconducting quantum circuits.
Adiabatic manipulation of the quantum state is an essential tool in modern quantum information processing. Here we demonstrate the speed-up of the adiabatic population transfer in athree-level superconducting transmon circuit by suppressing the spurious non-adiabatic excitations with an additional two-photon microwave pulse. We apply this superadiabatic method to the stimulated Raman adiabatic passage, realizing fast and robust population transfer from the ground state to the second excited state of the quantum circuit.
Experiments with superconducting circuits require careful calibration of the applied pulses and fields over a large frequency range. This remains an ongoing challenge as commercialsemiconductor electronics are not able to probe signals arriving at the chip due to its cryogenic environment. Here, we demonstrate how the on-chip amplitude and frequency of a microwave field can be inferred from the ac Stark shifts of higher transmon levels. In our time-resolved measurements, we employ a simple quantum sensing protocol, i.e. Ramsey fringes, allowing us to detect the amplitude of the systems transfer function over a range of several hundreds of MHz with an energy sensitivity on the order of 10−4. Combined with similar measurements for the phase of the transfer function, our sensing method can facilitate the microwave calibration of high fidelity quantum gates necessary for working with superconducting quantum circuits. Additionally, the potential to characterize arbitrary microwave fields promotes applications in related areas of research, such as quantum optics or hybrid microwave systems including photonic, mechanical or magnonic subsystems.
The achievement of fast and error-insensitive control of quantum systems is a primary goal in quantum information science. Here we use the first three levels of a transmon superconductingcircuit to realize a loop driving scheme, with all three possible pairs of states coupled by pulsed microwave tones. In this configuration, we implement a superadiabatic protocol for population transfer, where two couplings produce the standard stimulated Raman adiabatic passage, while the third is a counterdiabatic field which suppresses the nonadiabatic excitations. We demonstrate that the population can be controlled by the synthetic gauge-invariant phase around the loop as well as by the amplitudes of the three pulses. The technique enables fast operation, with transfer times approaching the quantum speed limit, and it is remarkably robust against errors in the shape of the pulses.