I am going to post here all newly submitted articles on the arXiv related to superconducting circuits. If your article has been accidentally forgotten, feel free to contact me
05
Jul
2021
Tuning and Amplifying the Interactions in Superconducting Quantum Circuits with Subradiant Qubits
We propose a tunable coupler consisting of N off-resonant and fixed-frequency qubits that can tune and even amplify the effective interaction between two general circuit components.
The tuning range of the interaction is proportional to N, with a minimum value of zero and a maximum that can exceed the physical coupling rates in the system. The effective coupling rate is determined by the collective magnetic quantum number of the qubit ensemble, which takes only discrete values and is free from collective decay and decoherence. Using single-photon pi-pulses, the coupling rate can be switched between arbitrary initial and final values within the dynamic range in a single step without going through intermediate values. A cascade of the couplers for amplifying small interactions or weak signals is also discussed. These results should not only stimulate interest in exploring the collective effects in quantum information processing, but also enable development of applications in tuning and amplifying the interactions in a general cavity-QED system.
30
Jun
2021
Compact Itinerant Microwave Photonics with Superconducting High-Kinetic Inductance Microstrips
Microwave photonics is a remarkably powerful system for quantum simulation and technologies, but its integration in superconducting circuits, superior in many aspects, is constrained
by the long wavelengths and impedance mismatches in this platform. We introduce a solution to these difficulties via compact networks of high-kinetic inductance microstrip waveguides and coupling wires with strongly reduced phase velocities. We demonstrate broadband capabilities for superconducting microwave photonics in terms of routing, emulation and generalized linear and nonlinear networks.
29
Jun
2021
Interacting Defects Generate Stochastic Fluctuations in Superconducting Qubits
Amorphous dielectric materials have been known to host two-level systems (TLSs) for more than four decades. Recent developments on superconducting resonators and qubits enable detailed
studies on the physics of TLSs. In particular, measuring the loss of a device over long time periods (a few days) allows us to investigate stochastic fluctuations due to the interaction between TLSs. We measure the energy relaxation time of a frequency-tunable planar superconducting qubit over time and frequency. The experiments show a variety of stochastic patterns that we are able to explain by means of extensive simulations. The model used in our simulations assumes a qubit interacting with high-frequency TLSs, which, in turn, interact with thermally activated low-frequency TLSs. Our simulations match the experiments and suggest the density of low-frequency TLSs is about three orders of magnitude larger than that of high-frequency ones.
A Charge-Noise Insensitive Chiral Photonic Interface for Waveguide Circuit QED
A chiral photonic interface is a quantum system that has different probabilities for emitting photons to the left and right. An on-chip compatible chiral interface is attractive for
both fundamental studies of light-matter interactions and applications to quantum information processing. We propose such a chiral interface based on superconducting circuits, which has wide bandwidth, rich tunability, and high tolerance to fabrication variations. The proposed interface consists of a core that uses Cooper-pair-boxes (CPBs) to break time-reversal symmetry, and two superconducting transmons which connect the core to a waveguide in the manner reminiscent of a „giant atom“. The transmons form a state decoupled from the core, akin to dark state of atomic physics, rendering the whole interface insensitive to the CPB charge noise. The proposed interface can be extended to realize a broadband fully passive on-chip circulator for microwave photons.
24
Jun
2021
Near-Field Terahertz Nanoscopy of Coplanar Microwave Resonators
Superconducting quantum circuits are one of the leading quantum computing platforms. To advance superconducting quantum computing to a point of practical importance, it is critical
to identify and address material imperfections that lead to decoherence. Here, we use terahertz Scanning Near-field Optical Microscopy (SNOM) to probe the local dielectric properties and carrier concentrations of wet-etched aluminum resonators on silicon, one of the most characteristic components of the superconducting quantum processors. Using a recently developed vector calibration technique, we extract the THz permittivity from spectroscopy in proximity to the microwave feedline. Fitting the extracted permittivity to the Drude model, we find that silicon in the etched channel has a carrier concentration greater than buffer oxide etched silicon and we explore post-processing methods to reduce the carrier concentrations. Our results show that near-field THz investigations can be applied to quantitatively evaluate and identify potential loss channels in quantum devices.
22
Jun
2021
Quasiparticle tunneling as a probe of Josephson junction quality and capacitor material in superconducting qubits
Non-equilibrium quasiparticles are possible sources for decoherence in superconducting qubits because they can lead to energy decay or dephasing upon tunneling across Josephson junctions.
Here, we investigate the impact of the intrinsic properties of two-dimensional transmon qubits on quasiparticle tunneling (QPT) and discuss how we can use QPT to gain critical information about the Josephson junction quality and device performance. We find the tunneling rate of the non-equilibrium quasiparticles to be sensitive to the choice of the shunting capacitor material and their geometry in qubits. In some devices, we observe an anomalous temperature dependence of the QPT rate below 100 mK that deviates from a constant background associated with non-equilibrium quasiparticles. We speculate that high transmission sites within the Josephson junction’s tunnel barrier can lead to this behavior, which we can model by assuming that the defect sites have a smaller effective superconducting gap than the leads of the junction. Our results present a unique characterization tool for tunnel barrier quality in Josephson junctions and shed light on how quasiparticles can interact with various elements of the qubit circuit.
21
Jun
2021
Critical Currents in Conventional Josephson Junctions With Grain Boundaries
It has been hypothesized that the variation of the critical currents in Nb/Al-AlOx/Nb junctions is due to, among other effects, the presence of grain boundaries in the system. Motivated
by this, we examine the effect of grain boundaries on the critical current of a Josephson junction. We assume that the hopping amplitudes are dependent on the interatomic distance, and derive a physically realistic model of distance-dependent hopping amplitudes. We find that the presence of a grain boundary and associated disorder is responsible for a very large drop in the critical current relative to a clean system. We also find that when a tunnel barrier is present, grain boundaries cause substantial variation in the critical currents due to the disordered hoppings near the tunnel barrier. We discuss the applicability of these results to Josephson junctions presently intended for use in superconducting electronics applications.
An Introduction to the Transmon Qubit for Electromagnetic Engineers
One of the most popular approaches being pursued to achieve a quantum advantage with practical hardware are superconducting circuit devices. Although significant progress has been made
over the previous two decades, substantial engineering efforts are required to scale these devices so they can be used to solve many problems of interest. Unfortunately, much of this exciting field is described using technical jargon and concepts from physics that are unfamiliar to a classically trained electromagnetic engineer. As a result, this work is often difficult for engineers to become engaged in. We hope to lower the barrier to this field by providing an accessible review of one of the most prevalently used quantum bits (qubits) in superconducting circuit systems, the transmon qubit. Most of the physics of these systems can be understood intuitively with only some background in quantum mechanics. As a result, we avoid invoking quantum mechanical concepts except where it is necessary to ease the transition between details in this work and those that would be encountered in the literature. We believe this leads to a gentler introduction to this fascinating field, and hope that more researchers from the classical electromagnetic community become engaged in this area in the future.
19
Jun
2021
Superconducting quantum computer: a hint for building architectures
We discuss the scalability of superconducting quantum computers, especially in a wiring problem. The number of wiring inside a cryostat is almost proportional to the number of qubits
in current wiring architectures. We introduce regularity, modularity, and hierarchy to an architecture design of superconducting quantum computers. The key to the wiring elimination is found in the quantum error correction codes having thresholds and spatial translational symmetry, i.e., the surface code. We show a superconducting-digital-logic-based architecture and introduce a stacked heterogeneous structure of the quantum module.
18
Jun
2021
Moving beyond the transmon: Noise-protected superconducting quantum circuits
Artificial atoms realized by superconducting circuits offer unique opportunities to store and process quantum information with high fidelity. Among them, implementations of circuits
that harness intrinsic noise protection have been rapidly developed in recent years. These noise-protected devices constitute a new class of qubits in which the computational states are largely decoupled from local noise channels. The main challenges in engineering such systems are simultaneously guarding against both bit- and phase-flip errors, and also ensuring high-fidelity qubit control. Although partial noise protection is possible in superconducting circuits relying on a single quantum degree of freedom, the promise of complete protection can only be fulfilled by implementing multimode or hybrid circuits. This Perspective reviews the theoretical principles at the heart of these new qubits, describes recent experiments, and highlights the potential of robust encoding of quantum information in superconducting qubits.