Observation of discrete charge states of a coherent two-level system in a superconducting qubit

  1. Bao-Jie Liu,
  2. Ying-Ying Wang,
  3. Tal Sheffer,
  4. and Chen Wang
We report observations of discrete charge states of a coherent dielectric two-level system (TLS) that is strongly coupled to an offset-charge-sensitive superconducting transmon qubit.
We measure an offset charge of 0.072e associated with the two TLS eigenstates, which have a transition frequency of 2.9 GHz and a relaxation time exceeding 3 ms. Combining measurements in the strong dispersive and resonant regime, we quantify both transverse and longitudinal couplings of the TLS-qubit interaction. We further perform joint tracking of TLS transitions and quasiparticle tunneling dynamics but find no intrinsic correlations. This study demonstrates microwave-frequency TLS as a source of low-frequency charge noise.