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
12
Mä
2025
SU(4) gate design via unitary process tomography: its application to cross-resonance based superconducting quantum devices
We present a novel approach for implementing pulse-efficient SU(4) gates on cross resonance (CR)-based superconducting quantum devices. Our method introduces a parameterized unitary
derived from the CR-Hamiltonian propagator, which accounts for static-ZZ interactions. Leveraging the Weyl chamber’s geometric structure, we successfully realize a continuous 2-qubit basis gate, RZZ(θ), as an echo-free pulse schedule on the IBM Quantum device ibm_kawasaki. We evaluate the average fidelity and gate time of various SU(4) gates generated using the RZZ(θ) to confirm the advantages of our implementation.
Correlated quasiparticle poisoning from phonon-only events in superconducting qubits
Throughout multiple cooldowns we observe a power-law reduction in time for the rate of multi-qubit correlated poisoning events, while the rate of shifts in qubit offset-charge remains
constant; evidence of a non-ionizing source of pair-breaking phonon bursts for superconducting qubits. We investigate different types of sample packaging, some of which are sensitive to mechanical impacts from the cryocooler pulse tube. One possible source of these events comes from relaxation of thermally-induced stresses from differential thermal contraction between the device layer and substrate.
11
Mä
2025
Mitigating transients in flux-control signals in a superconducting quantum processor
Flux-tunable qubits and couplers are common components in superconducting quantum processors. However, dynamically controlling these elements via current pulses poses challenges due
to distortions and transients in the propagating signals. In particular, long-time transients can persist, adversely affecting subsequent qubit control operations. We model the flux control line as a first-order RC circuit and introduce a class of pulses designed to mitigate long-time transients. We theoretically demonstrate the robustness of these pulses against parameter mischaracterization and provide experimental evidence of their effectiveness in mitigating transients when applied to a flux-tunable qubit coupler. The proposed pulse design offers a practical solution for mitigating long-time transients, enabling efficient and reliable experiment tune-ups without requiring detailed flux line characterization.
10
Mä
2025
Quasiparticle poisoning of superconducting qubits with active gamma irradiation
When a high-energy particle, such as a γ-ray or muon, impacts the substrate of a superconducting qubit chip, large numbers of electron-hole pairs and phonons are created. The ensuing
dynamics of the electrons and holes changes the local offset-charge environment for qubits near the impact site. The phonons that are produced have energy above the superconducting gap in the films that compose the qubits, leading to quasiparticle excitations above the superconducting ground state when the phonons impinge on the qubit electrodes. An elevated density of quasiparticles degrades qubit coherence, leading to errors in qubit arrays. Because these pair-breaking phonons spread throughout much of the chip, the errors can be correlated across a large portion of the array, posing a significant challenge for quantum error correction. In order to study the dynamics of γ-ray impacts on superconducting qubit arrays, we use a γ-ray source outside the dilution refrigerator to controllably irradiate our devices. By using charge-sensitive transmon qubits, we can measure both the offset-charge shifts and quasiparticle poisoning due to the γ irradiation at different doses. We study correlations between offset-charge shifts and quasiparticle poisoning for different qubits in the array and compare this with numerical modeling of charge and phonon dynamics following a γ-ray impact. We thus characterize the poisoning footprint of these impacts and quantify the performance of structures for mitigating phonon-mediated quasiparticle poisoning.
Fabrication and characterization of vacuum-gap microstrip resonators
In traveling-wave parametric amplifiers (TWPAs) low-loss capacitors are necessary to provide 50 Ω impedance matching to the increased inductance that is brought in by the nonlinear
elements used for amplification, be it Josephson junctions or high kinetic inductance materials. Here we report on the development of a fabrication process for vacuum-gap microstrips, a design in which the ground plane is suspended in close proximity above the center conductor without the support of a dielectric. In addition to high-capacitance transmission lines, this architecture also enables air-bridges and compact parallel-plate capacitors. The performance of the fabrication is examined using distributed aluminum and granular aluminum resonators in a cryogenic dilution refrigerator setup, showing quality factors on par with the fabrication processes used in state-of-the-art TWPAs. In addition to characterizing the dependence of the quality factors on power, also their behavior with respect to temperature is explored, applying a model based on thermal quasi-particles and saturable two-level systems (TLS), showing that the quality factors of the resonators are limited by TLS.
Josephson traveling-wave parametric amplifier based on low-intrinsic-loss coplanar lumped-element waveguide
We present a Josephson traveling-wave parametric amplifier (JTWPA) based on a low-loss coplanar lumped-element waveguide architecture. By employing open-stub capacitors and Manhattan-pattern
junctions, our device achieves an insertion loss below 1 dB up to 12 GHz. We introduce windowed sinusoidal modulation for phase matching, demonstrating that smooth impedance transitions effectively suppress intrinsic gain ripples. Using Tukey-windowed modulation with 8 % impedance variation, we achieve 20−23-dB gain over 5-GHz bandwidth under ideal matching conditions. In a more practical circuit having impedance mismatches, the device maintains 17−20-dB gain over 4.8-GHz bandwidth with an added noise of 0.13 quanta above standard quantum limit at 20-dB gain and −99-dBm saturation power, while featuring zero to negative backward gain below the bandgap frequency.
09
Mä
2025
Multifunctional Nonreciprocal Quantum Device Based on Superconducting Quantum Circuit
Nonreciprocal devices, such as isolator or circulator, are crucial for information routing and processing in quantum networks. Traditional nonreciprocal devices, which rely on the application
of bias magnetic fields to break time-reversal symmetry and Lorentz reciprocity, tend to be bulky and require strong static magnetic fields. This makes them challenging to implement in highly integrated large-scale quantum networks. Therefore, we design a multifunctional nonreciprocal quantum device based on the integration and tunable interaction of superconducting quantum circuit. This device can switch between two-port isolator, three-port symmetric circulator, and antisymmetric circulator under the control of external magnetic flux. Furthermore, both isolator and circulator can achieve nearly perfect unidirectional signal transmission. We believe that this scalable and integrable nonreciprocal device could provide new insight for the development of large-scale quantum networks.
07
Mä
2025
Generation of Frequency-Tunable Shaped Single Microwave Photons Using a Fixed-Frequency Superconducting Qubit
Scaling up a superconducting quantum computer will likely require quantum communication between remote chips, which can be implemented using an itinerant microwave photon in a transmission
line. To realize high-fidelity communication, it is essential to control the frequency and temporal shape of the microwave photon. In this work, we demonstrate the generation of frequency-tunable shaped microwave photons without resorting to any frequency-tunable circuit element. We develop a framework which treats a microwave resonator as a band-pass filter mediating the interaction between a superconducting qubit and the modes in the transmission line. This interpretation allows us to stimulate the photon emission by an off-resonant drive signal. We characterize how the frequency and temporal shape of the generated photon depends on the frequency and amplitude of the drive signal. By modulating the drive amplitude and frequency, we achieve a frequency tunability of 40 MHz while maintaining the photon mode shape this http URL measurements of the quadrature amplitudes of the emitted photons, we demonstrate consistently high state and process fidelities around 95\% across the tunable frequency range. Our hardware-efficient approach eliminates the need for additional biasing lines typically required for frequency tuning, offering a simplified architecture for scalable quantum communication.
Spectrum analysis with parametrically modulated transmon qubits
Exploring the noise spectrum impacting a qubit and extending its coherence duration are fundamental components of quantum technologies. In this study, we introduce parametric spectroscopy,
a method that merges parametric modulation of a qubit’s energy gap with dynamical decoupling sequences. The parametric modulation provides high sensitivity to extensive regions of the noise spectrum, while dynamical decoupling reduces the effect of driving noise. Our theoretical study shows that parametric spectroscopy enables access to the difficult high-frequency domain of the flux spectrum in transmons.
27
Feb
2025
Low crosstalk modular flip-chip architecture for coupled superconducting qubits
We present a flip-chip architecture for an array of coupled superconducting qubits, in which circuit components reside inside individual microwave enclosures. In contrast to other flip-chip
approaches, the qubit chips in our architecture are electrically floating, which guarantees a simple, fully modular assembly of capacitively coupled circuit components such as qubit, control, and coupling structures, as well as reduced crosstalk between the components. We validate the concept with a chain of three nearest neighbor coupled generalized flux qubits in which the center qubit acts as a frequency-tunable coupler. Using this coupler, we demonstrate a transverse coupling on/off ratio ≈ 50, zz-crosstalk ≈ 0.7 kHz between resonant qubits and isolation between the qubit enclosures > 60 dB.