Exploring highly connected networks of qubits is invaluable for implementing various quantum algorithms and simulations as it allows for entangling qubits with reduced circuit depth.Here, we demonstrate a multi-qubit STAR (Sideband Tone Assisted Rabi driven) gate. Our scheme is inspired by the ion qubit Mølmer-Sørensen gate and is mediated by a shared photonic mode and Rabi-driven superconducting qubits, which relaxes restrictions on qubit frequencies during fabrication and supports scalability. We achieve a two-qubit gate with maximum state fidelity of 0.95 in 310 ns, a three-qubit gate with state fidelity 0.905\% in 217 ns, and a four-qubit gate with state fidelity 0.66 in 200 ns. Furthermore, we develop a model of the gate that show the four-qubit gate is limited by shared resonator losses and the spread of qubit-resonator couplings, which must be addressed to reach high-fidelity operations.
Weak measurements of a superconducting qubit produce noisy voltage signals that are weakly correlated with the qubit state. To recover individual quantum trajectories from these noisysignals, traditional methods require slow qubit dynamics and substantial prior information in the form of calibration experiments. Monitoring rapid qubit dynamics, e.g. during quantum gates, requires more complicated methods with increased demand for prior information. Here, we experimentally demonstrate an alternative method for accurately tracking rapidly driven superconducting qubit trajectories that uses a Long-Short Term Memory (LSTM) artificial neural network with minimal prior information. Despite few training assumptions, the LSTM produces trajectories that include qubit-readout resonator correlations due to a finite detection bandwidth. In addition to revealing rotated measurement eigenstates and a reduced measurement rate in agreement with theory for a fixed drive, the trained LSTM also correctly reconstructs evolution for an unknown drive with rapid modulation. Our work enables new applications of weak measurements with faster or initially unknown qubit dynamics, such as the diagnosis of coherent errors in quantum gates.
Ternary quantum processors offer significant computational advantages over conventional qubit technologies, leveraging the encoding and processing of quantum information in qutrits(three-level systems). To evaluate and compare the performance of such emerging quantum hardware it is essential to have robust benchmarking methods suitable for a higher-dimensional Hilbert space. We demonstrate extensions of industry standard Randomized Benchmarking (RB) protocols, developed and used extensively for qubits, suitable for ternary quantum logic. Using a superconducting five-qutrit processor, we find a single-qutrit gate infidelity as low as 2.38×10−3. Through interleaved RB, we find that this qutrit gate error is largely limited by the native (qubit-like) gate fidelity, and employ simultaneous RB to fully characterize cross-talk errors. Finally, we apply cycle benchmarking to a two-qutrit CSUM gate and obtain a two-qutrit process fidelity of 0.82. Our results demonstrate a RB-based tool to characterize the obtain overall performance of a qutrit processor, and a general approach to diagnose control errors in future qudit hardware.
The theory of quantum information provides a common language which links disciplines ranging from cosmology to condensed-matter physics. For example, the delocalization of quantum informationin strongly-interacting many-body systems, known as quantum information scrambling, has recently begun to unite our understanding of black hole dynamics, transport in exotic non-Fermi liquids, and many-body analogs of quantum chaos. To date, verified experimental implementations of scrambling have dealt only with systems comprised of two-level qubits. Higher-dimensional quantum systems, however, may exhibit different scrambling modalities and are predicted to saturate conjectured speed limits on the rate of quantum information scrambling. We take the first steps toward accessing such phenomena, by realizing a quantum processor based on superconducting qutrits (three-level quantum systems). We implement two-qutrit scrambling operations and embed them in a five-qutrit teleportation algorithm to directly measure the associated out of-time-ordered correlation functions. Measured teleportation fidelities, Favg = 0.568 +- 0001, confirm the occurrence of scrambling even in the presence of experimental imperfections. Our teleportation algorithm, which connects to recent proposals for studying traversable wormholes in the laboratory, demonstrates how quantum information processing technology based on higher dimensional systems can exploit a larger and more connected state space to achieve the resource efficient encoding of complex quantum circuits.
Quantum bits, or qubits, are an example of coherent circuits envisioned for next-generation computers and detectors. A robust superconducting qubit with a coherent lifetime of O(100us) is the transmon: a Josephson junction functioning as a non-linear inductor shunted with a capacitor to form an anharmonic oscillator. In a complex device with many such transmons, precise control over each qubit frequency is often required, and thus variations of the junction area and tunnel barrier thickness must be sufficiently minimized to achieve optimal performance while avoiding spectral overlap between neighboring circuits. Simply transplanting our recipe optimized for single, stand-alone devices to wafer-scale (producing 64, 1×1 cm dies from a 150 mm wafer) initially resulted in global drifts in room-temperature tunneling resistance of ± 30%. Inferring a critical current Ic variation from this resistance distribution, we present an optimized process developed from a systematic 38 wafer study that results in < 3.5% relative standard deviation (RSD) in critical current (≡σIc/⟨Ic⟩) for 3000 Josephson junctions (both fixed frequency and asymmetric SQUIDs) across an area of 49 cm2. Looking within a 1x1 cm moving window across the substrate gives an estimate of the variation characteristic of a given qubit chip. Our best process, utilizing ultrasonically assisted development, uniform ashing, and dynamic oxidation has shown σIc/⟨Ic⟩ = 1.8% within 1x1 cm, on average, with a few 1x1 cm areas having σIc/⟨Ic⟩ < 1.0% (equivalent to σf/⟨f⟩ < 0.5%). Such stability would drastically improve the yield of multi-qubit chips with strict frequency requirements.[/expand]
A crucial limit to measurement efficiencies of superconducting circuits comes from losses involved when coupling to an external quantum amplifier. Here, we realize a device circumventingthis problem by directly embedding a two-level artificial atom, comprised of a transmon qubit, within a flux-pumped Josephson parametric amplifier. Surprisingly, this configuration is able to enhance dispersive measurement without exposing the qubit to appreciable excess backaction. This is accomplished by engineering the circuit to permit high-power operation that reduces information loss to unmonitored channels associated with the amplification and squeezing of quantum noise. By mitigating the effects of off-chip losses downstream, the on-chip gain of this device produces end-to-end measurement efficiencies of up to 80 percent. Our theoretical model accurately describes the observed interplay of gain and measurement backaction, and delineates the parameter space for future improvement. The device is compatible with standard fabrication and measurement techniques, and thus provides a route for definitive investigations of fundamental quantum effects and quantum control protocols.