Qubit Noise Sensing via Induced Photon Loss in a High-Quality Superconducting Cavity

Characterizing the noise affecting superconducting qubits is essential for improving their performance. Existing noise-sensing techniques use the qubit itself as a detector, but its short coherence time limits both sensitivity and accessible frequency range. Here, we demonstrate a method for measuring qubit frequency noise by converting it into photon loss in a coupled high-quality superconducting cavity. We prepare a single photon in the cavity and perform repeated mid-circuit qubit measurements with post-selection to isolate noise-induced loss from intrinsic cavity decay, placing an upper bound on the intrinsic dressed-dephasing rate of (0.29s)−1 at 508 MHz, corresponding to a qubit frequency-noise power spectral density below 5.4×103Hz2/Hz. By exploiting the cavity’s millisecond-scale lifetime, this technique provides access to high-frequency noise processes that are beyond the reach of conventional qubit-based spectroscopy and that may impose previously unexplored limits on qubit coherence.