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
03
Mrz
2024
All-Pass Readout for Robust and Scalable Quantum Measurement
Robust and scalable multiplexed qubit readout will be essential to the realization of a fault-tolerant quantum computer. To this end, we propose and demonstrate transmission-based dispersive
readout of a superconducting qubit using an all-pass resonator that preferentially emits readout photons in one direction. This is in contrast to typical readout schemes, which intentionally mismatch the feedline at one end so that the readout signal preferentially decays toward the output. We show that this intentional mismatch creates scaling challenges, including larger spread of effective resonator linewidths due to non-ideal impedance environments and added infrastructure for impedance matching. Our proposed „all-pass readout“ architecture avoids the need for intentional mismatch and aims to enable reliable, modular design of multiplexed qubit readout, thus improving the scaling prospects of quantum computers. We design and fabricate an all-pass readout resonator that demonstrates insertion loss below 1.17 dB at the readout frequency and a maximum insertion loss of 1.53 dB across its full bandwidth for the lowest three states of a transmon qubit. We demonstrate qubit readout with an average single-shot fidelity of 98.1% in 600 ns; to assess the effect of larger dispersive shift, we implement a shelving protocol and achieve a fidelity of 99.0% in 300 ns.
Directional emission of a readout resonator for qubit measurement
We propose and demonstrate transmission-based dispersive readout of a superconducting qubit using an all-pass resonator, which preferentially emits readout photons toward the output.
This is in contrast to typical readout schemes, which intentionally mismatch the feedline at one end so that the readout signal preferentially decays toward the output. We show that this intentional mismatch creates scaling challenges, including larger spread of effective resonator linewidths due to non-ideal impedance environments and added infrastructure for impedance matching. A future architecture using multiplexed all-pass readout resonators would avoid the need for intentional mismatch and potentially improve the scaling prospects of quantum computers. As a proof-of-concept demonstration of „all-pass readout,“ we design and fabricate an all-pass readout resonator that demonstrates insertion loss below 1.17 dB at the readout frequency and a maximum insertion loss of 1.53 dB across its full bandwidth for the lowest three states of a transmon qubit. We demonstrate qubit readout with an average single-shot fidelity of 98.1% in 600 ns; to assess the effect of larger dispersive shift, we implement a shelving protocol and achieve a fidelity of 99.0% in 300 ns.
02
Mrz
2024
High-coherence superconducting qubits made using industry-standard, advanced semiconductor manufacturing
The development of superconducting qubit technology has shown great potential for the construction of practical quantum computers. As the complexity of quantum processors continues
to grow, the need for stringent fabrication tolerances becomes increasingly critical. Utilizing advanced industrial fabrication processes could facilitate the necessary level of fabrication control to support the continued scaling of quantum processors. However, these industrial processes are currently not optimized to produce high coherence devices, nor are they a priori compatible with the commonly used approaches to make superconducting qubits. In this work, we demonstrate for the first time superconducting transmon qubits manufactured in a 300 mm CMOS pilot line, using industrial fabrication methods, with resulting relaxation and coherence times already exceeding 100 microseconds. We show across-wafer, large-scale statistics studies of coherence, yield, variability, and aging that confirm the validity of our approach. The presented industry-scale fabrication process, using exclusively optical lithography and reactive ion etching, shows performance and yield similar to the conventional laboratory-style techniques utilizing metal lift-off, angled evaporation, and electron-beam writing. Moreover, it offers potential for further upscaling by including three-dimensional integration and additional process optimization using advanced metrology and judicious choice of processing parameters and splits. This result marks the advent of more reliable, large-scale, truly CMOS-compatible fabrication of superconducting quantum computing processors.
01
Mrz
2024
Signal crosstalk in a flip-chip quantum processor
Quantum processors require a signal-delivery architecture with high addressability (low crosstalk) to ensure high performance already at the scale of dozens of qubits. Signal crosstalk
causes inadvertent driving of quantum gates, which will adversely affect quantum-gate fidelities in scaled-up devices. Here, we demonstrate packaged flip-chip superconducting quantum processors with signal-crosstalk performance competitive with those reported in other platforms. For capacitively coupled qubit-drive lines, we find on-resonant crosstalk better than -27 dB (average -37 dB). For inductively coupled magnetic-flux-drive lines, we find less than 0.13 % direct-current flux crosstalk (average 0.05 %). These observed crosstalk levels are adequately small and indicate a decreasing trend with increasing distance, which is promising for further scaling up to larger numbers of qubits. We discuss the implication of our results for the design of a low-crosstalk, on-chip signal delivery architecture, including the influence of a shielding tunnel structure, potential sources of crosstalk, and estimation of crosstalk-induced qubit-gate error in scaled-up quantum processors.
Characterization of process-related interfacial dielectric loss in aluminum-on-silicon by resonator microwave measurements, materials analysis, and imaging
We systematically investigate the influence of the fabrication process on dielectric loss in aluminum-on-silicon superconducting coplanar waveguide resonators with internal quality
factors (Qi) of about one million at the single-photon level. These devices are essential components in superconducting quantum processors; they also serve as proxies for understanding the energy loss of superconducting qubits. By systematically varying several fabrication steps, we identify the relative importance of reducing loss at the substrate-metal and the substrate-air interfaces. We find that it is essential to clean the silicon substrate in hydrogen fluoride (HF) prior to aluminum deposition. A post-fabrication removal of the oxides on the surface of the silicon substrate and the aluminum film by immersion in HF further improves the Qi. We observe a small, but noticeable, adverse effect on the loss by omitting either standard cleaning (SC1), pre-deposition heating of the substrate to 300°C, or in-situ post-deposition oxidation of the film’s top surface. We find no improvement due to excessive pumping meant to reach a background pressure below 6×10−8 mbar. We correlate the measured loss with microscopic properties of the substrate-metal interface through characterization with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectroscopy (ToF-SIMS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), and atomic force microscopy (AFM).
Reducing the error rate of a superconducting logical qubit using analog readout information
Quantum error correction enables the preservation of logical qubits with a lower logical error rate than the physical error rate, with performance depending on the decoding method.
Traditional error decoding approaches, relying on the binarization (`hardening‘) of readout data, often ignore valuable information embedded in the analog (`soft‘) readout signal. We present experimental results showcasing the advantages of incorporating soft information into the decoding process of a distance-three (d=3) bit-flip surface code with transmons. To this end, we use the 3×3 data-qubit array to encode each of the 16 computational states that make up the logical state $\ket{0_{\mathrm{L}}}$, and protect them against bit-flip errors by performing repeated Z-basis stabilizer measurements. To infer the logical fidelity for the $\ket{0_{\mathrm{L}}}$ state, we average across the 16 computational states and employ two decoding strategies: minimum weight perfect matching and a recurrent neural network. Our results show a reduction of up to 6.8% in the extracted logical error rate with the use of soft information. Decoding with soft information is widely applicable, independent of the physical qubit platform, and could reduce the readout duration, further minimizing logical error rates.
Niobium coaxial cavities with internal quality factors exceeding 1.5 billion for circuit quantum electrodynamics
Group-V materials such as niobium and tantalum have become popular choices for extending the performance of circuit quantum electrodynamics (cQED) platforms allowing for quantum processors
and memories with reduced error rates and more modes. The complex surface chemistry of niobium however makes identifying the main modes of decoherence difficult at millikelvin temperatures and single-photon powers. We use niobium coaxial quarter-wave cavities to study the impact of etch chemistry, prolonged atmospheric exposure, and the significance of cavity conditions prior to and during cooldown, in particular niobium hydride evolution, on single-photon coherence. We demonstrate cavities with quality factors of Qint≳1.4×109 in the single-photon regime, a 15 fold improvement over aluminum cavities of the same geometry. We rigorously quantify the sensitivity of our fabrication process to various loss mechanisms and demonstrate a 2−4× reduction in the two-level system (TLS) loss tangent and a 3−5× improvement in the residual resistivity over traditional BCP etching techniques. Finally, we demonstrate transmon integration and coherent cavity control while maintaining a cavity coherence of \SI{11.3}{ms}. The accessibility of our method, which can easily be replicated in academic-lab settings, and the demonstration of its performance mark an advancement in 3D cQED.
29
Feb
2024
Tunable compact on-chip superconducting switch
We develop a compact four-port superconducting switch with a tunable operating frequency in the range of 4.8 GHz — 7.3 GHz. Isolation between channel exceeds 20~dB over a bandwidth
of several hundred megahertz, exceeding 40 dB at some frequencies. The footprint of the device is 80×420 μm. The tunability requires only a global flux bias without either permanent magnets or micro-electromechanical structures. As the switch is superconducting, the heat dissipation during operation is negligible. The device can operate at up to -80~dBm, which is equal to 2.5×106 photons at 6 GHz per microsecond. The device show a possibility to be operated as a beamsplitter with tunable splitting ratio.
Simple, High Saturation Power, Quantum-limited, RF SQUID Array-based Josephson Parametric Amplifiers
High-fidelity quantum non-demolition qubit measurement is critical to error correction and rapid qubit feedback in large-scale quantum computing. High-fidelity readout requires passing
a short and strong pulse through the qubit’s readout resonator, which is then processed by a sufficiently high bandwidth, high saturation power, and quantum-limited amplifier. We have developed a design pipeline that combines time-domain simulation of the un-truncated device Hamiltonian, fabrication constraints, and maximization of saturation power. We have realized an amplifier based on a modified NIST tri-layer Nb fabrication suite which utilizes an array of 25 radio frequency Superconducting QUantum Interference Devices (rf SQUIDs) embedded within a low-Q resonator powered by a high-power voltage pump delivered via a diplexer on the signal port. We show that, despite the intensity of the pump, the device is quantum-efficient and capable of high-fidelity measurement limited by state transitions in the transmon. We present experimental data demonstrating up to -91.2 dBm input saturation power with 20 dB gain, up to 28 MHz instantaneous bandwidth, and phase-preserving qubit measurements with 62% quantum efficiency.
Realization of High-Fidelity CZ Gate based on a Double-Transmon Coupler
Striving for higher gate fidelity is crucial not only for enhancing existing noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) devices but also for unleashing the potential of fault-tolerant
quantum computation through quantum error correction. A recently proposed theoretical scheme, the double-transmon coupler (DTC), aims to achieve both suppressed residual interaction and a fast high-fidelity two-qubit gate simultaneously, particularly for highly detuned qubits. Harnessing the state-of-the-art fabrication techniques and a model-free pulse-optimization process based on reinforcement learning, we translate the theoretical DTC scheme into reality, attaining fidelities of 99.92% for a CZ gate and 99.98% for single-qubit gates. The performance of the DTC scheme demonstrates its potential as a competitive building block for superconducting quantum processors.