A critical challenge in developing scalable error-corrected quantum systems is the accumulation of errors while performing operations and measurements. One promising approach is todesign a system where errors can be detected and converted into erasures. A recent proposal aims to do this using a dual-rail encoding with superconducting cavities. In this work, we implement such a dual-rail cavity qubit and use it to demonstrate a projective logical measurement with erasure detection. We measure logical state preparation and measurement errors at the 0.01%-level and detect over 99% of cavity decay events as erasures. We use the precision of this new measurement protocol to distinguish different types of errors in this system, finding that while decay errors occur with probability ∼0.2% per microsecond, phase errors occur 6 times less frequently and bit flips occur at least 170 times less frequently. These findings represent the first confirmation of the expected error hierarchy necessary to concatenate dual-rail erasure qubits into a highly efficient erasure code.
Increasing the fidelity of single-qubit gates requires a combination of faster pulses and increased qubit coherence. However, with resonant qubit drive via a capacitively coupled port,these two objectives are mutually contradictory, as higher qubit quality factor requires a weaker coupling, necessitating longer pulses for the same applied power. Increasing drive power, on the other hand, can heat the qubit’s environment and degrade coherence. In this work, by using the inherent non-linearity of the transmon qubit, we circumvent this issue by introducing a new parametric driving scheme to perform single-qubit control. Specifically, we achieve rapid gate speed by pumping the transmon’s native Kerr term at approximately one third of the qubit’s resonant frequency. Given that transmons typically operate within a fairly narrow range of anharmonicity, this technique is applicable to all transmons. In both theory and experiment, we show that the Rabi rate of the process is proportional to applied drive amplitude cubed, allowing for rapid gate speed with only modest increases in applied power. In addition, we demonstrate that filtering can be used to protect the qubit’s coherence while performing rapid gates, and present theoretical calculations indicating that decay due to multi-photon losses, even in very strongly coupled drive lines, will not limit qubit lifetime. We demonstrate π/2 pulses as short as tens of nanoseconds with fidelity as high as 99.7\%, limited by the modest coherence of our transmon. We also present calculations indicating that this technique could reduce cryostat heating for fast gates, a vital requirement for large-scale quantum computers.
Noisy, Intermediate Scale Quantum (NISQ) computers have reached the point where they can show the potential for quantum advantage over classical computing. Unfortunately, NISQ machinesintroduce sufficient noise that even for moderate size quantum circuits the results can be unreliable. We propose a collaboratively designed superconducting quantum computer using a Superconducting Nonlinear Asymmetric Inductive eLement (SNAIL) modulator. The SNAIL modulator is designed by considering both the ideal fundamental qubit gate operation while maximizing the qubit coupling capabilities. We and others have demonstrated that the family, and particularly ‾‾‾‾‾‾√, provides an advantage over as a basis gate. In this work, we show how the SNAIL natively implements ‾‾‾‾‾‾√n functions with high-degree couplings and implementation of gates realized through proportionally scaled pulse lengths. Based on our previously demonstrated SNAIL-based quantum state router we present preliminary data extending the SNAIL-based modulator to four qubit modules. Furthermore, in this work, we co-design future SNAIL-based quantum computers that utilize the construction of richer interconnections based on classical 4-ary tree and hypercubes and compare their advantage to the traditional lattice and heavy-hex lattice for a suite of common quantum algorithms. To make our results more general, we consider both scenarios in which the total circuit time, for implementations dominated by decoherence, or total gate count, for implementations dominated by control imperfections. We demonstrate the co-design advantage based on real hardware SNAIL implementations and extrapolate to larger system sizes characterized from our real multi ‾‾‾‾‾‾√n qubit system with 4-ary tree and hypercube inspired interconnects.
In this work, we present the design of a superconducting, microwave quantum state router which can realize all-to-all couplings among four quantum modules. Each module consists of asingle transmon, readout mode, and communication mode coupled to the router. The router design centers on a parametrically driven, Josephson-junction based three-wave mixing element which generates photon exchange among the modules‘ communication modes. We first demonstrate SWAP operations among the four communication modes, with an average full-SWAP time of 760 ns and average inter-module gate fidelity of 0.97, limited by our modes‘ coherences. We also demonstrate photon transfer and pairwise entanglement between the modules‘ qubits, and parallel operation of simultaneous SWAP gates across the router. These results can readily be extended to faster and higher fidelity router operations, as well as scaled to support larger networks of quantum modules.