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
Aug
2024
Enhanced Superconducting Qubit Performance Through Ammonium Fluoride Etch
The performance of superconducting qubits is often limited by dissipation and two-level systems (TLS) losses. The dominant sources of these losses are believed to originate from amorphous
materials and defects at interfaces and surfaces, likely as a result of fabrication processes or ambient exposure. Here, we explore a novel wet chemical surface treatment at the Josephson junction-substrate and the substrate-air interfaces by replacing a buffered oxide etch (BOE) cleaning process with one that uses hydrofluoric acid followed by aqueous ammonium fluoride. We show that the ammonium fluoride etch process results in a statistically significant improvement in median T1 by ∼22% (p=0.002), and a reduction in the number of strongly-coupled TLS in the tunable frequency range. Microwave resonator measurements on samples treated with the ammonium fluoride etch prior to niobium deposition also show ∼33% lower TLS-induced loss tangent compared to the BOE treated samples. As the chemical treatment primarily modifies the Josephson junction-substrate interface and substrate-air interface, we perform targeted chemical and structural characterizations to examine materials‘ differences at these interfaces and identify multiple microscopic changes that could contribute to decreased TLS.
02
Aug
2024
Fabrication and characterization of low-loss Al/Si/Al parallel plate capacitors for superconducting quantum information applications
Increasing the density of superconducting circuits requires compact components, however, superconductor-based capacitors typically perform worse as dimensions are reduced due to loss
at surfaces and interfaces. Here, parallel plate capacitors composed of aluminum-contacted, crystalline silicon fins are shown to be a promising technology for use in superconducting circuits by evaluating the performance of lumped element resonators and transmon qubits. High aspect ratio Si-fin capacitors having widths below 300nm with an approximate total height of 3μm are fabricated using anisotropic wet etching of Si(110) substrates followed by aluminum metallization. The single-crystal Si capacitors are incorporated in lumped element resonators and transmons by shunting them with lithographically patterned aluminum inductors and conventional Al/AlOx/Al Josephson junctions respectively. Microwave characterization of these devices suggests state-of-the-art performance for superconducting parallel plate capacitors with low power internal quality factor of lumped element resonators greater than 500k and qubit T1 times greater than 25μs. These results suggest that Si-Fins are a promising technology for applications that require low loss, compact, superconductor-based capacitors with minimal stray capacitance.
Complete Self-Testing of a System of Remote Superconducting Qubits
Self-testing protocols enable the certification of quantum systems in a device-independent manner, i.e. without knowledge of the inner workings of the quantum devices under test. Here,
we demonstrate this high standard for characterization routines with superconducting circuits, a prime platform for building large-scale quantum computing systems. We first develop the missing theory allowing for the self-testing of Pauli measurements. We then self-test Bell pair generation and measurements at the same time, performing a complete self-test in a system composed of two entangled superconducting circuits operated at a separation of 30 meters. In an experiment based on 17 million trials, we measure an average CHSH (Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt) S-value of 2.236. Without relying on additional assumptions on the experimental setup, we certify an average Bell state fidelity of at least 58.9% and an average measurement fidelity of at least 89.5% in a device-independent manner, both with 99% confidence. This enables applications in the field of distributed quantum computing and communication with superconducting circuits, such as delegated quantum computing.
30
Jul
2024
Proposal for Superconducting Quantum Networks Using Multi-Octave Transduction to Lower Frequencies
We propose networking superconducting quantum circuits by transducing their excitations (typically 4-8 GHz) to 100-500 MHz photons for transmission via cryogenic coaxial cables. Counter-intuitively,
this frequency downconversion reduces noise and transmission losses. We introduce a multi-octave asymmetrically threaded SQUID circuit (MOATS) capable of the required efficient, high-rate transduction. For a 100-meter cable with Qi=105 at 10 mK, our approach achieves single-photon fidelities of 0.962 at 200 MHz versus 0.772 at 8 GHz, and triples the lower bound on quantum channel capacity. This method enables kilometer-scale quantum links while maintaining high fidelities, combining improved performance with the practical advantages of flexible, compact coaxial cables.
29
Jul
2024
A single-photon microwave switch with recoverable control photon
Scalable quantum technologies may be applied in prospective architectures employing traditional information processing elements, such as transistors, rectifiers, or switches modulated
by low-power inputs. In this respect, recently developed quantum processors based, e.g., on superconducting circuits may alternatively be employed as the basic platform for ultra-low-power consumption classical processors, in addition to obvious applications in quantum information processing and quantum computing. Here we propose a single-photon microwave switch based on a circuit quantum electrodynamics setup, in which a single control photon in a transmission line is able to switch on/off the propagation of another single photon in a separate line. The performances of this single-photon switch are quantified in terms of the photon flux through the output channel, providing a direct comparison of our results with available data. Furthermore, we show how the design of this microwave switch enables the recovery of the single control photon after the switching process. This proposal may be readily realized in state-of-art superconducting circuit technology.
Modular quantum processor with an all-to-all reconfigurable router
Superconducting qubits provide a promising approach to large-scale fault-tolerant quantum computing. However, qubit connectivity on a planar surface is typically restricted to only
a few neighboring qubits. Achieving longer-range and more flexible connectivity, which is particularly appealing in light of recent developments in error-correcting codes, however usually involves complex multi-layer packaging and external cabling, which is resource-intensive and can impose fidelity limitations. Here, we propose and realize a high-speed on-chip quantum processor that supports reconfigurable all-to-all coupling with a large on-off ratio. We implement the design in a four-node quantum processor, built with a modular design comprising a wiring substrate coupled to two separate qubit-bearing substrates, each including two single-qubit nodes. We use this device to demonstrate reconfigurable controlled-Z gates across all qubit pairs, with a benchmarked average fidelity of 96.00%±0.08% and best fidelity of 97.14%±0.07%, limited mainly by dephasing in the qubits. We also generate multi-qubit entanglement, distributed across the separate modules, demonstrating GHZ-3 and GHZ-4 states with fidelities of 88.15%±0.24% and 75.18%±0.11%, respectively. This approach promises efficient scaling to larger-scale quantum circuits, and offers a pathway for implementing quantum algorithms and error correction schemes that benefit from enhanced qubit connectivity.
Search for QCD axion dark matter with transmon qubits and quantum circuit
We propose a direct axion dark matter (DM) search using superconducting transmon qubits as quantum sensors. With an external magnetic field applied, axion DM generates an oscillating
electric field which causes the excitation of the qubit; such an excitation can be regarded as a signal of the axion DM. We provide a theoretical consideration of the excitation process of the qubits taking into account the effects of the shielding cavity surrounding the qubits and estimate the signal rate for the axion DM detection. We also discuss the enhancement of the DM signal by using cavity resonance and entangled quantum sensors realized by a quantum circuit. Combining these two effects, we can reach the parameter region suggested by QCD axion models.
Realization of high-fidelity perfect entangler between remote superconducting quantum processors
Building large-scale quantum computers from smaller modules offers a solution to many formidable scientific and engineering challenges. Nevertheless, engineering high-fidelity interconnects
between modules remains challenging. In recent years, quantum state transfer (QST) has provided a way to establish entanglement between two separately packaged quantum devices. However, QST is not a unitary gate, thus cannot be directly inserted into a quantum circuit, which is widely used in recent quantum computation studies. Here we report a demonstration of a direct CNOT gate realized by the cross resonance (CR) effect between two remotely packaged quantum devices connected by a microwave cable. We achieve a CNOT gate with fidelity as high as 99.15±0.02%. The quality of the CNOT gate is verified by cross-entropy benchmarking (XEB) and further confirmed by demonstrating Bell-inequality violation. This work provides a new method to realize remote two-qubit gates. Our method can be used not only to achieve distributed quantum computing but also to enrich the topology of superconducting quantum chips with jumper lines connecting distant qubits. This advancement gives superconducting qubits broader application prospects in the fields of quantum computing and quantum simulation.
26
Jul
2024
Methods to achieve near-millisecond energy relaxation and dephasing times for a superconducting transmon qubit
Superconducting qubits are one of the most promising physical systems for implementing a quantum computer. However, executing quantum algorithms of practical computational advantage
requires further improvements in the fidelities of qubit operations, which are currently limited by the energy relaxation and dephasing times of the qubits. Here, we report our measurement results of a high-coherence transmon qubit with energy relaxation and echo dephasing times surpassing those in the existing literature. We measure a qubit frequency of 2.890 GHz, an energy relaxation time with a median of 502 us and a maximum of (765 +/- 82.6) us, and an echo dephasing time with a median of 541 us and a maximum of (1057 +/- 138) us. We report details of our design, fabrication process, and measurement setup to facilitate the reproduction and wide adoption of high-coherence transmon qubits in the academia and industry.
Robust multi-mode superconducting qubit designed with evolutionary algorithms
Multi-mode superconducting circuits offer a promising platform for engineering robust systems for quantum computation. Previous studies have shown that single-mode devices cannot simultaneously
exhibit resilience against multiple decoherence sources due to conflicting protection requirements. In contrast, multi-mode systems offer increased flexibility and have proven capable of overcoming these fundamental limitations. Nevertheless, exploring multi-mode architectures is computationally demanding due to the exponential scaling of the Hilbert space dimension. Here, we present a multi-mode device designed using evolutionary optimization techniques, which have been shown to be effective for this computational task. The proposed device was optimized to feature an anharmonicity of a third of the qubit frequency and reduced energy dispersion caused by charge and magnetic flux fluctuations. It exhibits improvements over the fundamental errors limiting Transmon and Fluxonium coherence and manipulation, aiming for a balance between low depolarization error and fast manipulation; furthermore demonstrating robustness against fabrication errors, a major limitation in many proposed multi-mode devices. Overall, by striking a balance between coupling matrix elements and noise protection, we propose a device that paves the way towards finding proper characteristics for the construction of superconducting quantum processors.