Real-time adaptive tracking of fluctuating relaxation rates in superconducting qubits

  1. Fabrizio Berritta,
  2. Jacob Benestad,
  3. Jan A. Krzywda,
  4. Oswin Krause,
  5. Malthe A. Marciniak,
  6. Svend Krøjer,
  7. Christopher W. Warren,
  8. Emil Hogedal,
  9. Andreas Nylander,
  10. Irshad Ahmad,
  11. Amr Osman,
  12. Janka Biznárová,
  13. Marcus Rommel,
  14. Anita Fadavi Roudsari,
  15. Jonas Bylander,
  16. Giovanna Tancredi,
  17. Jeroen Danon,
  18. Jacob Hastrup,
  19. Ferdinand Kuemmeth,
  20. and Morten Kjaergaard
The fidelity of operations on a solid-state quantum processor is ultimately bounded by decoherence effects induced by a fluctuating environment. Characterizing environmental fluctuations
is challenging because the acquisition time of experimental protocols limits the precision with which the environment can be measured and may obscure the detailed structure of these fluctuations. Here we present a real-time Bayesian method for estimating the relaxation rate of a qubit, leveraging a classical controller with an integrated field-programmable gate array (FPGA). Using our FPGA-powered Bayesian method, we adaptively and continuously track the relaxation-time fluctuations of two fixed-frequency superconducting transmon qubits, which exhibit average relaxation times of approximately 0.17 ms and occasionally exceed 0.5 ms. Our technique allows for the estimation of these relaxation times in a few milliseconds, more than two orders of magnitude faster than previous nonadaptive methods, and allows us to observe fluctuations up to 5 times the qubit’s average relaxation rates on significantly shorter timescales than previously reported. Our statistical analysis reveals that these fluctuations occur on much faster timescales than previously understood, with two-level-system switching rates reaching up to 10 Hz. Our work offers an appealing solution for rapid relaxation-rate characterization in device screening and for improved understanding of fast relaxation dynamics.

Quantum SWAP gate realized with CZ and iSWAP gates in a superconducting architecture

  1. Christian Križan,
  2. Janka Biznárová,
  3. Liangyu Chen,
  4. Emil Hogedal,
  5. Amr Osman,
  6. Christopher W. Warren,
  7. Sandoko Kosen,
  8. Hang-Xi Li,
  9. Tahereh Abad,
  10. Anuj Aggarwal,
  11. Marco Caputo,
  12. Jorge Fernández-Pendás,
  13. Akshay Gaikwad,
  14. Leif Grönberg,
  15. Andreas Nylander,
  16. Robert Rehammar,
  17. Marcus Rommel,
  18. Olga I. Yuzephovich,
  19. Anton Frisk Kockum,
  20. Joonas Govenius,
  21. Giovanna Tancredi,
  22. and Jonas Bylander
It is advantageous for any quantum processor to support different classes of two-qubit quantum logic gates when compiling quantum circuits, a property that is typically not seen with
existing platforms. In particular, access to a gate set that includes support for the CZ-type, the iSWAP-type, and the SWAP-type families of gates, renders conversions between these gate families unnecessary during compilation as any two-qubit Clifford gate can be executed using at most one two-qubit gate from this set, plus additional single-qubit gates. We experimentally demonstrate that a SWAP gate can be decomposed into one iSWAP gate followed by one CZ gate, affirming a more efficient compilation strategy over the conventional approach that relies on three iSWAP or three CZ gates to replace a SWAP gate. Our implementation makes use of a superconducting quantum processor design based on fixed-frequency transmon qubits coupled together by a parametrically modulated tunable transmon coupler, extending this platform’s native gate set so that any two-qubit Clifford unitary matrix can be realized using no more than two two-qubit gates and single-qubit gates.

Transmon qubit readout fidelity at the threshold for quantum error correction without a quantum-limited amplifier

  1. Liangyu Chen,
  2. Hang-Xi Li,
  3. Yong Lu,
  4. Christopher W. Warren,
  5. Christian J. Križan,
  6. Sandoko Kosen,
  7. Marcus Rommel,
  8. Shahnawaz Ahmed,
  9. Amr Osman,
  10. Janka Biznárová,
  11. Anita Fadavi Roudsari,
  12. Benjamin Lienhard,
  13. Marco Caputo,
  14. Kestutis Grigoras,
  15. Leif Grönberg,
  16. Joonas Govenius,
  17. Anton Frisk Kockum,
  18. Per Delsing,
  19. Jonas Bylander,
  20. and Giovanna Tancredi
High-fidelity and rapid readout of a qubit state is key to quantum computing and communication, and it is a prerequisite for quantum error correction. We present a readout scheme for
superconducting qubits that combines two microwave techniques: applying a shelving technique to the qubit that effectively increases the energy-relaxation time, and a two-tone excitation of the readout resonator to distinguish among qubit populations in higher energy levels. Using a machine-learning algorithm to post-process the two-tone measurement results further improves the qubit-state assignment fidelity. We perform single-shot frequency-multiplexed qubit readout, with a 140ns readout time, and demonstrate 99.5% assignment fidelity for two-state readout and 96.9% for three-state readout – without using a quantum-limited amplifier.

Extensive characterization of a family of efficient three-qubit gates at the coherence limit

  1. Christopher W. Warren,
  2. Jorge Fernández-Pendás,
  3. Shahnawaz Ahmed,
  4. Tahereh Abad,
  5. Andreas Bengtsson,
  6. Janka Biznárová,
  7. Kamanasish Debnath,
  8. Xiu Gu,
  9. Christian Križan,
  10. Amr Osman,
  11. Anita Fadavi Roudsari,
  12. Per Delsing,
  13. Göran Johansson,
  14. Anton Frisk Kockum,
  15. Giovanna Tancredi,
  16. and Jonas Bylander
While all quantum algorithms can be expressed in terms of single-qubit and two-qubit gates, more expressive gate sets can help reduce the algorithmic depth. This is important in the
presence of gate errors, especially those due to decoherence. Using superconducting qubits, we have implemented a three-qubit gate by simultaneously applying two-qubit operations, thereby realizing a three-body interaction. This method straightforwardly extends to other quantum hardware architectures, requires only a „firmware“ upgrade to implement, and is faster than its constituent two-qubit gates. The three-qubit gate represents an entire family of operations, creating flexibility in quantum-circuit compilation. We demonstrate a gate fidelity of 97.90%, which is near the coherence limit of our device. We then generate two classes of entangled states, the GHZ and W states, by applying the new gate only once; in comparison, decompositions into the standard gate set would have a two-qubit gate depth of two and three, respectively. Finally, we combine characterization methods and analyze the experimental and statistical errors on the fidelity of the gates and of the target states.