Constantin Schrade

Entangling transmons with low-frequency protected superconducting qubits

  1. Andrea Maiani,
  2. Morten Kjaergaard,
  3. and Constantin Schrade
Novel qubits with intrinsic noise protection constitute a promising route for improving the coherence of quantum information in superconducting circuits. However, many protected superconducting
qubits exhibit relatively low transition frequencies, which could make their integration with conventional transmon circuits challenging. In this work, we propose and study a scheme for entangling a tunable transmon with a Cooper-pair parity-protected qubit, a paradigmatic example of a low-frequency protected qubit that stores quantum information in opposite Cooper-pair parity states on a superconducting island. By tuning the external flux on the transmon, we show that non-computational states can mediate a two-qubit entangling gate that preserves the Cooper-pair parity independent of the detailed pulse sequence. Interestingly, the entangling gate bears similarities to a controlled-phase gate in conventional transmon devices. Hence, our results suggest that standard high-precision gate calibration protocols could be repurposed for operating hybrid qubit devices.
arxiv pdf

Protected hybrid superconducting qubit in an array of gate-tunable Josephson interferometers

  1. Constantin Schrade,
  2. Charles M. Marcus,
  3. and András Gyenis
We propose a protected qubit based on a modular array of superconducting islands connected by semiconductor Josephson interferometers. The individual interferometers realize effective
cos2ϕ elements that exchange `pairs of Cooper pairs‘ between the superconducting islands when gate-tuned into balance and frustrated by a half flux quantum. If a large capacitor shunts the ends of the array, the circuit forms a protected qubit because its degenerate ground states are robust to offset charge and magnetic field fluctuations for a sizable window around zero offset charge and half flux quantum. This protection window broadens upon increasing the number of interferometers if the individual elements are balanced. We use an effective spin model to describe the system and show that a quantum phase transition point sets the critical flux value at which protection is destroyed.
arxiv pdf