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
31
Mä
2026
Change in bit-flip times of Kerr parametric oscillators caused by their interactions
We experimentally investigate how interactions between Kerr parametric oscillators (KPOs) degrade their bit-flip times, where a bit flip is defined as a transition between the two degenerate
ground states of a KPO. Interactions between KPOs cause quantum states of KPOs to leak outside the computational subspace, leading to bit flips. Bit flips degrade fidelity and pose a significant problem for KPO-based quantum information processing. We performed an experiment in which a weak microwave signal is injected into one KPO to emulate photon injection from another KPO, and find that the bit-flip time decreases by an order of magnitude due to induced excitations, depending on the frequency and power of the injected signal. Methods to mitigate the decrease in bit-flip times caused by interactions between KPOs are discussed, including adjusting the pump frequencies, coherent-state amplitudes, and couplings between KPOs. These findings provide valuable insights for scaling up KPO-based quantum computers.
Junction-Intrinsic Dissipation in Hybrid Superconductor-Semiconductor Gatemon Qubits
Superconducting transmon qubits based on hybrid superconductor-semiconductor Josephson junctions (gatemons) offer gate tunability, but their relaxation times remain well below those
of state-of-the-art transmons, and the origin of this discrepancy is not fully understood. Here, we co-fabricate gatemons and SIS-junction transmons with nominally identical circuit layouts, gate dielectrics, and control lines, so that the Josephson element is the only intentional distinction. Across multiple chips, transmons in this architecture reach relaxation times in the tens of microseconds, whereas gatemons saturate in the few-microsecond range. Using the transmons as on-chip references, we construct a loss budget including Purcell decay, spontaneous emission through the control line, and internal dielectric loss, and find that the corresponding T1 limits exceed all measured gatemon values by more than an order of magnitude. Temperature-dependent T1 measurements follow a common quasiparticle-activation model and yield similar superconducting gaps for S-Sm-S and SIS junctions, indicating that the reduced gatemon coherence is dominated by additional temperature-independent, junction-intrinsic dissipation.
Non-perturbative CPMG scaling and qutrit-driven breakdown under compiled superconducting-qubit control: a single-qubit study
Decoherence in superconducting qubits emerges from the interplay of multilevel dynamics and structured environmental noise, yet perturbative models cannot capture all resulting signatures.Here, EmuPlat couples instruction-set-architecture-level waveform generation to the hierarchical equations of motion (HEOM) under 1/f non-Markovian pure dephasing. In the resulting non-perturbative regime — where filter-function predictions become quantitatively uninformative — CPMG scaling of a three-level superconducting transmon yields one calibration result, two physical findings, and one structural null. Y-CPMG exhibits axis-dependent scaling-law breakdown — non-monotonic decoherence, partial coherence revival, and pronounced X–Y population asymmetry (0.204 vs <0.01) -- driven by third-level anharmonicity amplified by bath memory; X-CPMG maintains well-behaved power-law scaling with a finite-n transient excess consistent with non-Markovian bath-memory effects. The structural null is equally informative: waveform-level differences -- Standard versus VPPU realizations -- remain undetectable across all coupling strengths, establishing that rotating-frame pure-dephasing coupling renders control-layer detail invisible to scaling observables. These findings define testable predictions, the most experimentally accessible requiring only qualitative verification.[/expand]
30
Mä
2026
SesQ: A Surface Electrostatic Simulator for Precise Energy Participation Ratio Simulation in Superconducting Qubits
An accurate and efficient numerical electromagnetic model for superconducting qubits is essential for characterizing and minimizing design-dependent dielectric losses. The energy participation
ratio (EPR) is the commonly adopted metric used to evaluate these losses, but its calculation presents a severe multiscale computational challenge. Conventional finite element method (FEM) requires 3D volumetric meshing, leading to prohibitive computational costs and memory requirements when attempting to capture singular electric fields at nanometer-thin material interfaces. To address this bottleneck, we propose SesQ, a surface integral equation simulator tailored for the precise simulation of the EPR. By applying discretization on 2D surfaces, deriving a semi-analytical multilayer Green’s function, and employing a dedicated non-conformal boundary mesh refinement scheme, SesQ accurately resolves singular edge fields without an explosive growth in the number of unknowns. Validations with analytically solvable models demonstrate that SesQ accelerates capacitance extraction by roughly two orders of magnitude compared to commercial FEM tools. While achieving comparable accuracy for capacitance extraction, SesQ delivers superior precision for EPR calculation. Simulations of practical transmon qubits further reveal that FEM approaches tend to significantly underestimate the EPR. Finally, the high efficiency of SesQ enables rapid iteration in the layout optimization, as demonstrated by minimizing the EPR of the qubit pattern, establishing the simulator as a powerful tool for the automated design of low-loss superconducting quantum circuits.
Tunable Nonlocal ZZ Interaction for Remote Controlled-Z Gates Between Distributed Fixed-Frequency Qubits
Fault-tolerant quantum computing requires large-scale superconducting processors, yet monolithic architectures face increasing constraints from wiring density, crosstalk, and fabrication
yield. Modular superconducting platforms offer a scalable alternative, but achieving high-fidelity entangling gates between distant modules remains a central challenge, particularly for highly coherent fixed-frequency qubits. Here, we propose a distributed hardware architecture designed to overcome this bottleneck by employing a pair of double-transmon couplers (DTCs). By synchronously controlling the two DTCs stationed at opposite ends of a macroscopic cable, our scheme strongly suppresses residual static inter-module coupling while enabling on-demand activation of a non-local cross-Kerr interaction with an on/off ratio exceeding 106. Through comprehensive system-level numerical simulations incorporating realistic hardware parameters, we demonstrate that this mechanism can realize a remote controlled-Z (CZ) gate with a fidelity over 99.99\% between fixed-frequency transmons housed in separate packages interconnected by a 25 cm coaxial cable. These results establish a highly viable, hardware-efficient route toward high-performance distributed superconducting processors.
Oxide-nitride heteroepitaxy for low-loss dielectrics in superconducting quantum circuits
Superconducting qubits show great promise for the realization of fault-tolerant quantum computing, but lossy, amorphous dielectrics limit current technology. Identifying highly crystalline
and stoichiometric dielectrics with intrinsically low microwave loss is therefore a central materials challenge, yet experimentally validated platforms remain scarce. In this work, we integrate a crystalline dielectric into a heteroepitaxial TiN/γ-Al2O3/TiN trilayer grown via pulsed laser deposition. Correlative high-resolution imaging, diffraction, and spectroscopy measurements confirm the single-crystal quality and chemical integrity of all layers, with minimal defects and limited anion interdiffusion across the oxide-nitride interfaces. Using microwave lumped-element resonators with parallel-plate capacitors, we report the first direct measurement of the dielectric loss of epitaxial γ-Al2O3, for which we find a low intrinsic two-level system loss, δ0TLS=(2.8±0.1)×10−5. These results establish heteroepitaxial oxides on transition metal nitrides as an attractive materials platform for superconducting quantum circuits, particularly for integration into compact device architectures such as merged-element transmons and microwave kinetic inductance detectors.
29
Mä
2026
Resonant excitation of single and coupled qubits for coherent quantum control and microwave detection
Resonant driving enables coherent control of quantum systems, including single and coupled qubits. From a complementary perspective, transitions of a quantum system can be exploited
for the detection of microwave photons. In this work, we theoretically investigate resonant multiphoton excitations in a system of qubits. When the energy of K photons matches the energy splitting of the qubit system, the absorption of these photons leads to collective excitation of the qubits. We focus on the case of two coupled qubits and analyze the quantum dynamics of both excitation and relacation processes. In the particular case where only a single qubit is relevant and the remaining qubits can be neglected, the dynamics admits an analytical treatment. We examine multiphoton resonances, the Bloch-Siegert shift, and population inversion, phenomena that are central to both coherent quantum control and microwave photon detection.
28
Mä
2026
Ultralow-power coherent qubit control using AQFP logic at millikelvin temperatures
Qubit controllers are essential for scaling superconducting quantum processors, but implementing them at the 10 mK stage of a dilution refrigerator remains challenging due to stringent
cooling constraints. Here we report an ultralow-power qubit controller using adiabatic quantum-flux-parametron (AQFP) logic, termed an AQFP-multiplexed qubit controller with virtual Z gates (AQFP QC-VZ). The AQFP QC-VZ generates multi-tone microwave pulses for qubit control with an ultralow power dissipation of 111 pW per qubit. By combining microwave and time-division multiplexing, the AQFP QC-VZ enables parallel application of X and virtual Z gates to multiple qubits using only a few control lines from room temperature. We demonstrate coherent single-qubit gates at the 10 mK stage using an AQFP mixer, a core component of the AQFP QC-VZ, without observable degradation in coherence.
27
Mä
2026
Tunable anharmonicity in Sn-InAs nanowire transmons beyond the short junction limit
The anharmonicity of a transmon qubit, defined as the difference in energy level spacing, is a key design parameter. In transmons built from hybrid superconductor-semiconductor Josephson
elements, the anharmonicity is tunable with gate voltages that control both the Josephson energy and the weak link transparency. In Sn-InAs nanowire transmons, we use two-tone microwave spectroscopy to extract anharmonicity ranging in absolute value from the transmon charging energy Ec to values smaller than Ec/10. This behavior contrasts with the predictions of the multi-channel short-junction model, which sets a lower limit on anharmonicity at Ec/4. Coherent operation of the qubit is still possible at the point of the lowest anharmonicity. These findings demonstrate the potential of quantum circuits that benefit from widely electrically tunable anharmonicity.
Low-energy spectrum of double-junction superconducting circuits in the Born-Oppenheimer approximation
The superconductor-insulator-superconductor Josephson junction is the fundamental nonlinear element of superconducting circuits. Connecting two junctions in series gives rise to higher-harmonic
content in the total energy-phase relation, enabling new design opportunities in multimode circuits. However, the double-junction element hosts an internal mode whose spectrum is set by the finite capacitances of the individual junctions. Using a Born-Oppenheimer approximation that treats the additional mode as fast compared to the qubit mode, we analyze the double-junction circuit element shunted by a large capacitor. Here, we derive an effective single-mode model of the qubit containing a correction term owing to the presence of the internal mode. We explore experimentally relevant parameter regimes and find that our model accurately describes the low-energy spectrum of the qubit. We further discuss how eliminating the internal degree of freedom affects the system’s periodic boundary conditions and how this leads to non-uniqueness in performing the Born-Oppenheimer approximation. Finally, we analyze the harmonic content of the double-junction element and discuss its sensitivity to charge noise.