The density of quasiparticles typically observed in superconducting qubits exceeds the value expected in equilibrium by many orders of magnitude. Can this out-of-equilibrium quasiparticledensity still possess an energy distribution in equilibrium with the phonon bath? Here, we answer this question affirmatively by measuring the thermal activation of charge-parity switching in a transmon qubit with a difference in superconducting gap on the two sides of the Josephson junction. We then demonstrate how the gap asymmetry of the device can be exploited to manipulate its parity.
Single-charge tunneling is a decoherence mechanism affecting superconducting qubits, yet the origin of excess quasiparticle excitations (QPs) responsible for this tunneling in superconductingdevices is not fully understood. We measure the flux dependence of charge-parity (or simply, „parity“) switching in an offset-charge-sensitive transmon qubit to identify the contributions of photon-assisted parity switching and QP generation to the overall parity-switching rate. The parity-switching rate exhibits a qubit-state-dependent peak in the flux dependence, indicating a cold distribution of excess QPs which are predominantly trapped in the low-gap film of the device. Moreover, we find that the photon-assisted process contributes significantly to both parity switching and the generation of excess QPs by fitting to a model that self-consistently incorporates photon-assisted parity switching as well as inter-film QP dynamics.