Cross-talk in superconducting qubit lattices with tunable couplers – comparing transmon and fluxonium architectures

  1. F. Lange,
  2. L. Heunisch,
  3. H. Fehske,
  4. D. P. DiVincenzo,
  5. and M. J. Hartmann
Cross-talk between qubits is one of the main challenges for scaling superconducting quantum processors. Here, we use the density-matrix renormalization-group to numerically analyze
lattices of superconducting qubits from a perspective of many-body localization. Specifically, we compare different architectures that include tunable couplers designed to decouple qubits in the idle state, and calculate the residual ZZ interactions as well as the inverse participation ratio in the computational basis states. For transmon qubits outside of the straddling regime, the results confirm that tunable C-shunt flux couplers are significantly more efficient in mitigating the ZZ interactions than tunable transmons. A recently proposed fluxonium architecture with tunable transmon couplers is demonstrated to also maintain its strong suppression of the ZZ interactions in larger systems, while having a higher inverse participation ratio in the computational basis states than lattices of transmon qubits. Our results thus suggest that fluxonium architectures may feature lower cross talk than transmon lattices when designed to achieve similar gate speeds and fidelities.

Dissipative optomechanical preparation of macroscopic quantum superposition states

  1. M. Abdi,
  2. P. Degenfeld-Schonburg,
  3. M. Sameti,
  4. C. Navarrete-Benlloch,
  5. and M. J. Hartmann
The transition from quantum to classical physics remains an intensely debated question even though it has been investigated for more than a century. Further clarifications could be
obtained by preparing macroscopic objects in spatial quantum superpositions and proposals for generating such states for nano-mechanical devices either in a transient or a probabilistic fashion have been put forward. Here we introduce a method to deterministically obtain spatial superpositions of arbitrary lifetime via dissipative state preparation. In our approach, we engineer a double-well potential for the motion of the mechanical element and drive it towards the ground state, which shows the desired spatial superposition, via optomechanical sideband cooling. We propose a specific implementation based on a superconducting circuit coupled to the mechanical motion of a lithium-decorated monolayer graphene sheet, introduce a method to verify the mechanical state by coupling it to a superconducting qubit, and discuss its prospects for testing collapse models for the quantum to classical transition.

Thermal emission in the ultrastrong coupling regime

  1. A. Ridolfo,
  2. Martin Leib,
  3. S. Savasta,
  4. and M. J. Hartmann
We study thermal emission of a cavity quantum electrodynamic system in the ultrastrong-coupling regime where the atom-cavity coupling rate becomes comparable the cavity resonance
frequency. In this regime, the standard descriptions of photodetection and dissipation fail. Following an approach that was recently put forward by Ridolfo et al.[arXiv:1206.0944], we are able to calculate the emission of systems with arbitrary strength of light matter interaction, by expressing the electric field operator in the cavity-emitter dressed basis. Here we present thermal photoluminescence spectra, calculated for given temperatures and for different couplings in particular for available circuit QED parameters.