Quantum crosstalk cancellation for fast entangling gates and improved multi-qubit performance

  1. K. X. Wei,
  2. E. Magesan,
  3. I. Lauer,
  4. S. Srinivasan,
  5. D. F. Bogorin,
  6. S. Carnevale,
  7. G. A. Keefe,
  8. Y. Kim,
  9. D. Klaus,
  10. W. Landers,
  11. N. Sundaresan,
  12. C. Wang,
  13. E. J. Zhang,
  14. M. Steffen,
  15. O. E. Dial,
  16. D. C. McKay,
  17. and A. Kandala
Quantum computers built with superconducting artificial atoms already stretch the limits of their classical counterparts. While the lowest energy states of these artificial atoms serve
as the qubit basis, the higher levels are responsible for both a host of attractive gate schemes as well as generating undesired interactions. In particular, when coupling these atoms to generate entanglement, the higher levels cause shifts in the computational levels that leads to unwanted ZZ quantum crosstalk. Here, we present a novel technique to manipulate the energy levels and mitigate this crosstalk via a simultaneous AC Stark effect on coupled qubits. This breaks a fundamental deadlock between qubit-qubit coupling and crosstalk, leading to a 90ns CNOT with a gate error of (0.19 ± 0.02) % and the demonstration of a novel CZ gate with fixed-coupling single-junction transmon qubits. Furthermore, we show a definitive improvement in circuit performance with crosstalk cancellation over seven qubits, demonstrating the scalability of the technique. This work paves the way for superconducting hardware with faster gates and greatly improved multi-qubit circuit fidelities.

Programmable interference between two microwave quantum memories

  1. Yvonne Y. Gao,
  2. B. J. Lester,
  3. Yaxing Zhang,
  4. C. Wang,
  5. S. Rosenblum,
  6. L. Frunzio,
  7. Liang Jiang,
  8. S. M. Girvin,
  9. and R. J. Schoelkopf
Interference experiments provide a simple yet powerful tool to unravel fundamental features of quantum physics. Here we engineer an RF-driven, time-dependent bilinear coupling that
can be tuned to implement a robust 50:50 beamsplitter between stationary states stored in two superconducting cavities in a three-dimensional architecture. With this, we realize high contrast Hong-Ou- Mandel (HOM) interference between two spectrally-detuned stationary modes. We demonstrate that this coupling provides an efficient method for measuring the quantum state overlap between arbitrary states of the two cavities. Finally, we showcase concatenated beamsplitters and differential phase shifters to implement cascaded Mach-Zehnder interferometers, which can control the signature of the two-photon interference on-demand. Our results pave the way toward implementation of scalable boson sampling, the application of linear optical quantum computing (LOQC) protocols in the microwave domain, and quantum algorithms between long-lived bosonic memories.

Suspending superconducting qubits by silicon micromachining

  1. Y. Chu,
  2. C. Axline,
  3. C. Wang,
  4. T. Brecht,
  5. Y. Y. Gao,
  6. L. Frunzio,
  7. and R. J. Schoelkopf
We present a method for relieving aluminum 3D transmon qubits from a silicon substrate using micromachining. Our technique is a high yield, one-step deep reactive ion etch that requires
no additional fabrication processes, and results in the suspension of the junction area and edges of the aluminum film. The drastic change in the device geometry affects both the dielectric and flux noise environment experienced by the qubit. In particular, the participation ratios of various dielectric interfaces are significantly modified, and suspended qubits exhibited longer T1’s than non-suspended ones. We also find that suspension increases the flux noise experienced by tunable SQUID-based qubits.

Implementing and characterizing precise multi-qubit measurements

  1. J. Z. Blumoff,
  2. K. Chou,
  3. C. Shen,
  4. M. Reagor,
  5. C. Axline,
  6. R. T. Brierley,
  7. M. P. Silveri,
  8. C. Wang,
  9. B. Vlastakis,
  10. S. E. Nigg,
  11. L. Frunzio,
  12. M. H. Devoret,
  13. L. Jiang,
  14. S. M. Girvin,
  15. and R. J. Schoelkopf
There are two general requirements to harness the computational power of quantum mechanics: the ability to manipulate the evolution of an isolated system and the ability to faithfully
extract information from it. Quantum error correction and simulation often make a more exacting demand: the ability to perform non-destructive measurements of specific correlations within that system. We realize such measurements by employing a protocol adapted from [S. Nigg and S. M. Girvin, Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 243604 (2013)], enabling real-time selection of arbitrary register-wide Pauli operators. Our implementation consists of a simple circuit quantum electrodynamics (cQED) module of four highly-coherent 3D transmon qubits, collectively coupled to a high-Q superconducting microwave cavity. As a demonstration, we enact all seven nontrivial subset-parity measurements on our three-qubit register. For each we fully characterize the realized measurement by analyzing the detector (observable operators) via quantum detector tomography and by analyzing the quantum back-action via conditioned process tomography. No single quantity completely encapsulates the performance of a measurement, and standard figures of merit have not yet emerged. Accordingly, we consider several new fidelity measures for both the detector and the complete measurement process. We measure all of these quantities and report high fidelities, indicating that we are measuring the desired quantities precisely and that the measurements are highly non-demolition. We further show that both results are improved significantly by an additional error-heralding measurement. The analyses presented here form a useful basis for the future characterization and validation of quantum measurements, anticipating the demands of emerging quantum technologies.

Multilayer microwave integrated quantum circuits for scalable quantum computing

  1. T. Brecht,
  2. W. Pfaff,
  3. C. Wang,
  4. Y. Chu,
  5. L. Frunzio,
  6. M. H. Devoret,
  7. and R. J. Schoelkopf
As experimental quantum information processing (QIP) rapidly advances, an emerging challenge is to design a scalable architecture that combines various quantum elements into a complex
device without compromising their performance. In particular, superconducting quantum circuits have successfully demonstrated many of the requirements for quantum computing, including coherence levels that approach the thresholds for scaling. However, it remains challenging to couple a large number of circuit components through controllable channels while suppressing any other interactions. We propose a hardware platform intended to address these challenges, which combines the advantages of integrated circuit fabrication and long coherence times achievable in three-dimensional circuit quantum electrodynamics (3D cQED). This multilayer microwave integrated quantum circuit (MMIQC) platform provides a path toward the realization of increasingly complex superconducting devices in pursuit of a scalable quantum computer.

Demonstration of superconducting micromachined cavities

  1. T. Brecht,
  2. M. Reagor,
  3. Y. Chu,
  4. W. Pfaff,
  5. C. Wang,
  6. L. Frunzio,
  7. M. H. Devoret,
  8. and R. J. Schoelkopf
Superconducting enclosures will be key components of scalable quantum computing devices based on circuit quantum electrodynamics (cQED). Within a densely integrated device, they can
protect qubits from noise and serve as quantum memory units. Whether constructed by machining bulk pieces of metal or microfabricating wafers, 3D enclosures are typically assembled from two or more parts. The resulting seams potentially dissipate crossing currents and limit performance. In this Letter, we present measured quality factors of superconducting cavity resonators of several materials, dimensions and seam locations. We observe that superconducting indium can be a low-loss RF conductor and form low-loss seams. Leveraging this, we create a superconducting micromachined resonator with indium that has a quality factor of two million despite a greatly reduced mode volume. Inter-layer coupling to this type of resonator is achieved by an aperture located under a planar transmission line. The described techniques demonstrate a proof-of-principle for multilayer microwave integrated quantum circuits for scalable quantum computing.