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
22
Apr
2024
Two-tone spectroscopy for the detection of two-level systems in superconducting qubits
Two-level systems (TLS) of unclear physical origin are a major contributor to decoherence in superconducting qubits. The interactions of individual TLS with a qubit can be detected
via various spectroscopic methods, most of which have relied on the tunability of the qubit frequency. We propose a novel method that requires only a microwave drive and dispersive readout, and thus also works fixed-frequency qubits. The proposed two-tone spectroscopy involves a microwave pulse of varying frequency and length to excite TLSs of unknown frequencies, followed by a second pulse at the qubit frequency. TLS parameters can be estimated from the qubit population as a function of the first pulse frequency and length.
18
Apr
2024
Parametrically-controlled microwave-photonic interface for the fluxonium
Converting quantum information from stationary qubits to traveling photons enables both fast qubit initialization and efficient generation of flying qubits for redistribution of quantum
information. This conversion can be performed using cavity sideband transitions. In the fluxonium, however, direct cavity sideband transitions are forbidden due to parity symmetry. Here we circumvent this parity selection rule by using a three-wave mixing element to couple the fluxonium to a resonator. We experimentally demonstrate a scheme for interfacing the fluxonium with traveling photons through microwave-induced parametric conversion. We perform fast reset on the fluxonium qubit, initializing it with > 95% ground state population. We then implement controlled release and temporal shaping of a flying photon, useful for quantum state transfer and remote entanglement. The simplicity and flexibility of our demonstrated scheme enables fluxonium-based remote entanglement architectures.
17
Apr
2024
Remote Cross-resonance Gate between Superconducting Fixed-frequency Qubits
High-fidelity quantum state transfer and remote entanglement between superconducting fixed-frequency qubits have not yet been realized. In this study, we propose an alternative remote
cross-resonance gate. Considering multiple modes of a superconducting coaxial cable connecting qubits, we must find conditions under which the cross-resonance gate operates with a certain accuracy even in the presence of qubit frequency shifts due to manufacturing errors. For 0.25- and 0.5-m cables, remote cross-resonance gates with a concurrence of >99.9% in entanglement generation are obtained even with ±10-MHz frequency shifts. For a 1-m cable with a narrow mode spacing, a concurrence of 99.5\% is achieved by reducing the coupling between the qubits and cable. The optimized echoed raised-cosine pulse duration is 150–400 ns, which is similar to the operation time of cross-resonance gates between neighboring qubits on a chip. The dissipation through the cable modes does not considerably affect the obtained results. Such high-precision quantum interconnects pave the way not only for scaling up quantum computer systems but also for nonlocal connections on a chip.
16
Apr
2024
Spectroscopic measurements and models of energy deposition in the substrate of quantum circuits by natural ionizing radiation
Naturally occurring background radiation is a source of correlated decoherence events in superconducting qubits that will challenge error-correction schemes. To characterize the radiationenvironment in an unshielded laboratory, we performed broadband, spectroscopic measurements of background events in silicon substrates located inside a millikelvin refrigerator, an environment representative of superconducting qubit systems. We measured the background spectra in silicon substrates of two thicknesses, 0.5 mm and 1.5 mm, and obtained the average event rate and the integrated power deposition. In a 25 mm^2 area and the thinner substrate, these values are 0.023 events per second and 4.9 keV/s, counting events that deposit at least 40 keV. We find the background spectrum to be nearly featureless. Its intensity decreases by a factor of 40,000 between 100 keV and 3 MeV for silicon substrates 0.5 mm thick. We find the cryogenic measurements to be in good agreement with predictions based on measurements of the terrestrial gamma-ray flux, published models of cosmic-ray fluxes, a crude model of the cryostat, and radiation-transport simulations. No free parameters are required to predict the background spectra in the silicon substrates. The good agreement between measurements and predictions allow assessment of the relative contributions of terrestrial and cosmic background sources and their dependence on substrate thickness. Our spectroscopic measurements are performed with superconducting microresonators that transduce deposited energy to a readily detectable electrical signal. We find that gamma-ray emissions from radioisotopes are responsible for the majority of events depositing E<1.5 MeV, while nucleons among the cosmic-ray secondary particles cause most events that deposit more energy. These results suggest several paths to reducing the impact of background radiation on quantum circuits.[/expand]
12
Apr
2024
Realization of two-qubit gates and multi-body entanglement states in an asymmetric superconducting circuits
In recent years, the tunable coupling scheme has become the mainstream scheme for designing superconducting quan tum circuits. By working in the dispersive regime, the ZZ coupling and
high-energy level leakage can be effectively suppressed and realize a high fidelity quantum gate. We propose a tunable fluxonium-transmon-transmon (FTT) cou pling scheme. In our system, the coupler is a frequency tunable transmon qubit. Both qubits and coupler are capacitively coupled. The asymmetric structure composed of fluxonium and transmon will optimize the frequency space and form a high fidelity two-qubit quantum gate. By decoupling, the effective coupling strength can be easily adjusted to close to the net coupling between qubits. We numerical simulation the master equation to reduce the quantum noise to zero. We study the performance of this scheme by simulating the general single-qubit X{\pi}/2 gate and two-qubit (iSWAP) gate. In the bias point of the qubits, we achieve a single qubit gate with 99.99% fidelity and a two-qubit gate with 99.95% fidelity. By adjusting the nonlinear Kerr coefficient of fluxonium to an appropriate value, we can achieve a multi-body entanglement state. We consider the correlation between the two qubits and the coupler, and the magnetic flux passing through one qubit has an effect on the other qubit and the coupler. Finally, we analyze the quantum correlation of the two-body entanglement state.
08
Apr
2024
NMon: enhanced transmon qubit based on parallel arrays of Josephson junctions
We introduce a novel superconducting qubit architecture utilizing parallel arrays of Josephson junctions. This design offers a substantialy improved relative anharmonicity, typically
within the range of |αr|≈0.1−0.3, while maintaining transition matrix elements in both the charge and flux channels that are on par with those of transmon qubits. Our proposed device also features exceptional tunability and includes a parameter regime akin to an enhanced version of the fluxonium qubit. Notably, it enables an additional order of magnitude reduction in matrix elements influenced by flux noise, thus further enhancing its suitability for quantum information processing applications.
04
Apr
2024
Controllable non-Hermitian qubit-qubit Coupling in Superconducting quantum Circuit
With a high-loss resonator supplying the non-Hermiticity, we study the Energy level degeneracy and quantum state evolution in tunable coupling superconducting quantum circuit. The qubit’s
effective energy level and damping rate can be continually tuned in superconducting circuit, and the positions and numbers of level degenerate points are controllable. The efficient of quantum state exchange and the asymmetry of quantum state evolution can be tuned with non-hermitian and nonreciprocal coupling between two qubits. The controllable non-Hermiticity provides new insights and methods for exploring the unconventional quantum effects in superconducting quantum circuit.
03
Apr
2024
Two-line Josephson traveling wave parametric amplifier
Feasibility of two-line design of Josephson traveling wave parametric amplifier aimed at increase of the allowed pump wave energy and hence the gain growth is analyzed and discussed.
Serious restrictions follow from both the cyclic energy transfer of the pump, signal and idler waves in the coupled waveguide lines and the phase mismatch of the waves. Besides, impact of the artificial line discreteness on the phase mismatch is considered as well.
Dephasing in Fluxonium Qubits from Coherent Quantum Phase Slips
Phase slips occur across all Josephson junctions (JJs) at a rate that increases with the impedance of the junction. In superconducting qubits composed of JJ-array superinductors —
such as fluxonium — phase slips in the array can lead to decoherence. In particular, phase-slip processes at the individual array junctions can coherently interfere, each with an Aharonov–Casher phase that depends on the offset charges of the array islands. These coherent quantum phase slips (CQPS) perturbatively modify the qubit frequency, and therefore charge noise on the array islands will lead to dephasing. By varying the impedance of the array junctions, we design a set of fluxonium qubits in which the expected phase-slip rate within the JJ-array changes by several orders of magnitude. We characterize the coherence times of these qubits and demonstrate that the scaling of CQPS-induced dephasing rates agrees with our theoretical model. Furthermore, we perform noise spectroscopy of two qubits in regimes dominated by either CQPS or flux noise. We find the noise power spectrum associated with CQPS dephasing appears to be featureless at low frequencies and not 1/f. Numerical simulations indicate this behavior is consistent with charge noise generated by charge-parity fluctuations within the array. Our findings broadly inform JJ-array-design tradeoffs, relevant for the numerous superconducting qubit designs employing JJ-array superinductors.
01
Apr
2024
Direct detection of quasiparticle tunneling with a charge-sensitive superconducting sensor coupled to a waveguide
Detecting quasiparticle tunneling events in superconducting circuits provides information about the population and dynamics of non-equilibrium quasiparticles. Such events can be detected
by monitoring changes in the frequency of an offset-charge-sensitive superconducting qubit. This monitoring has so far been performed by Ramsey interferometry assisted by a readout resonator. Here, we demonstrate a quasiparticle detector based on a superconducting qubit directly coupled to a waveguide. We directly measure quasiparticle number parity on the qubit island by probing the coherent scattering of a microwave tone, offering simplicity of operation, fast detection speed, and a large signal-to-noise ratio. We observe tunneling rates between 0.8 and 7 s−1, depending on the average occupation of the detector qubit, and achieve a temporal resolution below 10 μs without a quantum-limited amplifier. Our simple and efficient detector lowers the barrier to perform studies of quasiparticle population and dynamics, facilitating progress in fundamental science, quantum information processing, and sensing.