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
01
Mai
2023
Qubit readouts enabled by qubit cloaking
Time-dependent drives play a crucial role in quantum computing efforts with circuit quantum electrodynamics. They enable single-qubit control, entangling logical operations, as well
as qubit readout. However, their presence can lead to deleterious effects such as large ac-Stark shifts and unwanted qubit transitions ultimately reflected into reduced control or readout fidelities. Qubit cloaking was introduced in Lledó, Dassonneville, et al. [arXiv:2022.05758] to temporarily decouple the qubit from the coherent photon population of a driven cavity, allowing for the application of arbitrary displacements to the cavity field while avoiding the deleterious effects on the qubit. For qubit readout, cloaking permits to prearm the cavity with an, in principle, arbitrarily large number of photons, in anticipation to the qubit-state-dependent evolution of the cavity field, allowing for improved readout strategies. Here we take a closer look at two of them. First, arm-and-release readout, introduced together with qubit cloaking, where after arming the cavity the cloaking mechanism is released and the cavity field evolves under the application of a constant drive amplitude. Second, an arm-and-longitudinal readout scheme, where the cavity drive amplitude is slowly modulated after the release. We show that the two schemes complement each other, offering an improvement over the standard dispersive readout for any values of the dispersive interaction and cavity decay rate, as well as any target measurement integration time. Our results provide a recommendation for improving qubit readout without changes to the standard circuit QED architecture.
26
Apr
2023
Systematic Improvements in Transmon Qubit Coherence Enabled by Niobium Surface Encapsulation
We present a novel transmon qubit fabrication technique that yields systematic improvements in T1 coherence times. We fabricate devices using an encapsulation strategy that involves
passivating the surface of niobium and thereby preventing the formation of its lossy surface oxide. By maintaining the same superconducting metal and only varying the surface structure, this comparative investigation examining different capping materials and film substrates across different qubit foundries definitively demonstrates the detrimental impact that niobium oxides have on the coherence times of superconducting qubits, compared to native oxides of tantalum, aluminum or titanium nitride. Our surface-encapsulated niobium qubit devices exhibit T1 coherence times 2 to 5 times longer than baseline niobium qubit devices with native niobium oxides. When capping niobium with tantalum, we obtain median qubit lifetimes above 200 microseconds. Our comparative structural and chemical analysis suggests that amorphous niobium suboxides may induce higher losses. These results are in line with high-accuracy measurements of the niobium oxide loss tangent obtained with ultra-high Q superconducting radiofrequency (SRF) cavities. This new surface encapsulation strategy enables further reduction of dielectric losses via passivation with ambient-stable materials, while preserving fabrication and scalable manufacturability thanks to the compatibility with silicon processes.
Four-channel System for Characterization of Josephson Parametric Amplifiers
The axion search experiments based on haloscopes at the Center for Axion and Precision Physics Research (CAPP) of the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) in South Korea are performed
in the frequency range from 1 GHz to 6 GHz. In order to perform the experiments in a strong magnetic field of 12 T and a large-volume cavity of close to 40 liters, we use He wet dilution refrigerators with immersed superconducting magnets. The measurements require continuous operation for months without interruptions for microwave component replacements. This is achieved by using different cryogenic engineering approaches including microwave RF-switching. The critical components, defining the scanning rate and the sensitivity of the setup, are the Josephson parametric amplifiers (JPA) and cryogenic low noise amplifiers (cLNA) based on high-electron-mobility-transistor (HEMT) technology. It is desirable for both devices to have a wide frequency range and low noise close to the quantum limit for the JPA. In this paper, we show a recent design of a 4-channel measurement setup for JPA and HEMT measurements. The setup is based on a 4-channel wideband noise source (NS) and is used for both JPA and HEMT gain and noise measurements. The setup is placed at 20 mK inside the dry dilution refrigerator. The NS is thermally decoupled from the environment using plastic spacers, superconducting wires and superconducting coaxial cables. We show the gain and noise temperature curves measured for 4 HEMT amplifiers and 2 JPAs in one cool-down
24
Apr
2023
All-microwave and low-cost Lamb shift engineering for a fixed frequency multi-level superconducting qubit
It is known that the quantum nature of the electromagnetic vacuum is responsible for the Lamb shift, which is a crucial phenomenon in quantum electrodynamics (QED). In circuit QED,
the readout or bus resonators that are dispersively coupled can result in a significant Lamb shift, much larger than that in the original broadband cases. However, previous approaches or proposals for controlling the Lamb shift in circuit QED demand overheads in circuit designs or non-perturbative renormalization of the system’s eigenbases, which can impose formidable this http URL this work, we propose and demonstrate an efficient and cost-effective method for controlling the Lamb shift of fixed-frequency transmons. We employ the drive-induced longitudinal coupling between the transmon and resonator. By simply using an off-resonant monochromatic driving near the resonator frequency, we can regulate the Lamb shift from 32 to -30 MHz without facing the aforementioned challenges. Our work establishes an efficient way of engineering the fundamental effects of the electromagnetic vacuum and provides greater flexibility in non-parametric frequency controls of multilevel systems.
Performing SU(d) operations and rudimentary algorithms in a superconducting transmon qudit for d=3 and d=4
Quantum computation architecture based on d-level systems, or qudits, has attracted considerable attention recently due to their enlarged Hilbert space. Extensive theoretical and experimental
studies have addressed aspects of algorithms and benchmarking techniques for qudit-based quantum computation and quantum information processing. Here, we report a physical realization of qudit with upto 4 embedded levels in a superconducting transmon, demonstrating high-fidelity initialization, manipulation, and simultaneous multi-level readout. In addition to constructing SU(d) operations and benchmarking protocols for quantum state tomography, quantum process tomography, and randomized benchmarking etc, we experimentally carry out these operations for d=3 and d=4. Moreover, we perform prototypical quantum algorithms and observe outcomes consistent with expectations. Our work will hopefully stimulate further research interest in developing manipulation protocols and efficient applications for quantum processors with qudits.
21
Apr
2023
Exploring Ququart Computation on a Transmon using Optimal Control
Contemporary quantum computers encode and process quantum information in binary qubits (d = 2). However, many architectures include higher energy levels that are left as unused computational
resources. We demonstrate a superconducting ququart (d = 4) processor and combine quantum optimal control with efficient gate decompositions to implement high-fidelity ququart gates. We distinguish between viewing the ququart as a generalized four-level qubit and an encoded pair of qubits, and characterize the resulting gates in each case. In randomized benchmarking experiments we observe gate fidelities greater 95% and identify coherence as the primary limiting factor. Our results validate ququarts as a viable tool for quantum information processing.
Real-time simulations of transmon systems with time-dependent Hamiltonian models
In this thesis we study aspects of Hamiltonian models which can affect the time evolution of transmon systems. We model the time evolution of various systems as a unitary real-time
process by numerically solving the time-dependent Schrödinger equation (TDSE). We denote the corresponding computer models as non-ideal gate-based quantum computer (NIGQC) models since transmons are usually used as transmon qubits in superconducting prototype gate-based quantum computers (PGQCs).We first review the ideal gate-based quantum computer (IGQC) model and provide a distinction between the IGQC, PGQCs and the NIGQC models we consider in this thesis. Then, we derive the circuit Hamiltonians which generate the dynamics of fixed-frequency and flux-tunable transmons. Furthermore, we also provide clear and concise derivations of effective Hamiltonians for both types of transmons. We use the circuit and effective Hamiltonians we derived to define two many-particle Hamiltonians, namely a circuit and an associated effective Hamiltonian. The interactions between the different subsystems are modelled as dipole-dipole interactions. Next, we develop two product-formula algorithms which solve the TDSE for the Hamiltonians we defined. Afterwards, we use these algorithms to investigate how various frequently applied assumptions affect the time evolution of transmon systems modelled with the many-particle effective Hamiltonian when a control pulse is applied. Here we also compare the time evolutions generated by the effective and circuit Hamiltonian. We find that the assumptions we investigate can substantially affect the time evolution of the probability amplitudes we model. Next, we investigate how susceptible gate-error quantifiers are to assumptions which make up the NIGQC model. We find that the assumptions we consider clearly affect gate-error quantifiers like the diamond distance and the average infidelity.
20
Apr
2023
Control the qubit-qubit coupling in the superconducting circuit with double-resonator couplers
We propose a scheme of using two fixed frequency resonator couplers to tune the coupling strength between two Xmon qubits. The induced indirect qubit-qubit interactions by two resonators
could offset with each other, and the direct coupling between two qubits are not necessarily for switching off. The small direct qubit-quibt coupling could effectively suppress the frequency interval between switching off and switching on, and globally suppress the second and third-order static ZZ couplings. The frequencies differences between resonator couplers and qubits readout resonators are very large, this might be helpful for suppressing the qubits readout errors. The cross-kerr resonant processes between a qubit and two resonators might induce pole and affect the crosstalks between qubits. The double resonator couplers could unfreeze the restrictions on capacitances and coupling strengths in the superconducting circuit, and it can also reduce the flux noises and globally suppress the crosstalks.
The quartic Blochnium: an anharmonic quasicharge superconducting qubit
The quasicharge superconducting qubit realizes the dual of the transmon and shows strong robustness to flux and charge fluctuations thanks to a very large inductance closed on a Josephson
junction. At the same time, a weak anharmonicity of the spectrum is inherited from the parent transmon, that introduces leakage errors and is prone to frequency crowding in multi-qubit setups. We propose a novel design that employs a quartic superinductor and confers a good degree of anharmonicity to the spectrum. The quartic regime is achieved through a properly designed chain of Josephson junction loops that avoids strong quantum fluctuations without introducing a severe dependence on the external flux.
18
Apr
2023
Advancements in Superconducting Microwave Cavities and Qubits for Quantum Information Systems
Superconducting microwave cavities with ultra-high Q-factors are revolutionizing the field of quantum computing, offering long coherence times exceeding 1 ms, which is critical for
realizing scalable multi-qubit quantum systems with low error rates. In this work, we provide an in-depth analysis of recent advances in ultra-high Q-factor cavities, integration of Josephson junction-based qubits, and bosonic-encoded qubits in 3D cavities. We examine the sources of quantum state dephasing caused by damping and noise mechanisms in cavities and qubits, highlighting the critical challenges that need to be addressed to achieve even higher coherence times. We critically survey the latest progress made in implementing single 3D qubits using superconducting materials, normal metals, and multi-qubit and multi-state quantum systems. Our work sheds light on the promising future of this research area, including novel materials for cavities and qubits, modes with nontrivial topological properties, error correction techniques for bosonic qubits, and new light-matter interaction effects.