Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

arXiv:1104.5212 · Physical Review B

Noise correlations in a flux qubit with tunable tunnel coupling

Simon Gustavsson, Jonas Bylander, Fei Yan, William D. Oliver, Fumiki Yoshihara, Yasunobu Nakamura

Published Jul 28, 2011• 42 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We have measured flux-noise correlations in a tunable superconducting flux qubit. The device consists of two loops that independently control the qubit's energy splitting and tunnel coupling. Low-frequency flux noise in the loops causes fluctuations of the qubit frequency and leads to dephasing. Since the noises in the two loops couple to different terms of the qubit Hamiltonian, a measurement of the dephasing rate at different bias points provides a way to extract both the amplitude and the sign of the noise correlations. We find that the flux fluctuations in the two loops are anticorrelated, consistent with a model where the flux noise is generated by randomly oriented unpaired spins on the metal surface.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.84.014525

Related papers

Correlated flux noise and decoherence in two inductively coupled flux qubits

Fumiki Yoshihara, Yasunobu Nakamura, J. S. Tsai

We have studied decoherence in a system where two Josephson-junction flux qubits share a part of their superconducting loops and are inductively coupled. By tuning the flux-bias condition, we control the sensitivities of the energy levels to flux noises in each qubit. The dephasing rate of the first excited state is enhanced or suppressed depending on the amplitudes and the signs of the sensitivities. We have quantified the $1/f$ flux noises and their correlations and found that the dominant contribution is by local fluctuations.

arXiv:1007.1028•Physical Review B•Apr 19, 2010•34 citations

Decoherence from 1/f Flux Noise

R. McDermott, Clare C. Yu, John M. Martinis

Abstract : Qubit dephasing is governed by low-frequency noise in the bias parameters that control the energy separation between the qubit states. It has been shown that dephasing in phase and flux qubits is dominated by an excess low frequency magnetic flux noise with a 1/f power spectrum and magnitude at 1 Hz of order 1 microPhi0/sqrt(Hz). Recent experiments by McDermott et al. provide clear evidence for the existence of unpaired magnetic states on the surfaces of superconducting thin film devices; it is now believed that fluctuations of these surface spin states are the source of the ubiquitous 1/f flux noise. However, the microscopic mechanism that drives fluctuations of these spins is not understood; moreover, there is no clear path to reducing the flux noise magnitude. This program is devoted to a systematic investigation of magnetic surface defects in SQUIDs and phase qubits. Measurements of surface spin susceptibility and susceptibility noise will yield valuable clues about the microscopic nature of the magnetic fluctuators, and shed light on interactions between defects. The role of qubit loop geometry on flux noise magnitude and dephasing will be explored in detail. The experiments will guide theoretical efforts to develop improved models for flux noise.

•Dec 30, 2014•0 citations

Phenomenological noise model for superconducting qubits: two-state fluctuators and 1/fnoise

Dong Zhou, Robert Joynt

We present a general phenomenological model for superconducting qubits subject to noise produced by two-state fluctuators whose couplings to the qubit are all roughly the same. In flux qubit experiments where the working point can be varied, it is possible to extract both the form of the noise spectrum and the number of fluctuators. We find that the noise has a broad spectrum consistent with 1/ f noise and that the number of fluctuators with slow switching rates is surprisingly small: less than 100. If the fluctuators are interpreted as unpaired surface spins, then the size of their magnetic moments is surprisingly large.

arXiv:1102.5766•Superconductor Science and Technology•Feb 23, 2012•9 citations

Flux noise without flux tunability in superconducting qubits

Daniel Kruti, Roman-Pascal Riwar

Flux noise is unanimously recognised as a leading dephasing mechanism for flux-tunable superconducting qubits. However, our microscopic understanding remains incomplete, and basic effects like Faraday's law of induction have only very recently come into focus. Based on a quantum geometric description of the Faraday effect, we provide an in-depth derivation of the coupling of generic magnetic sources to thin film superconducting structures, under appropriate consideration of the device geometry. We apply the resulting framework to time-varying magnetic dipoles, describing surface or substrate spins, as well as current-carrying flux lines. We show that flux noise not only affects dephasing, but also provides a fundamental limit for the qubit quality factor - notably, even when the qubit contains no loops and is thus nominally not flux-tunable. Assuming surface spins as the origin for universal flux noise, we expect that this quality factor limit might be reached in the near term. For flux lines, we formulate a minimal safety distance to conserve the qubit performance, potentially constraining the scale-up of quantum hardware. This distance is boosted in the presence of large capacitor wings typical for transmons, due to a lensing of the electromotive field which is largely independent of Meissner screening.

arXiv:2609.03059•Sep 2, 2026•0 citations

Decoherence of a tunable capacitively shunted flux qubit

Robbyn Trappen, Xi Dai, Muhammet Ali Yurtalan +19 more

Quantum annealing is a method to solve optimization problems that leverages quantum tunneling in a coupled qubit system. We present a detailed study of the coherence of a tunable capacitively-shunted flux qubit, designed for coherent quantum annealing applications. We find that for high qubit frequencies, thermal noise in the bias line makes a significant contribution to the relaxation, arising from the design choice to experimentally explore both fast annealing and high-frequency control. The measured dephasing rate is primarily due to intrinsic low-frequency flux noise in the two qubit loops, with additional contribution from the low-frequency noise of control electronics used for fast annealing. Our results characterize decoherence in a realistic setup for quantum annealing and are relevant for ongoing efforts toward building superconducting quantum annealers with increased coherence. Quantum annealers hold promise of outperforming classical computers in solving hard optimization problems, but one main challenge is understanding the role of noise in quantum annealing. Here, the authors characterize the relevant noise sources in a tunable flux qubit, a building block for quantum annealers, and provide a benchmark for future work on highly-coherent quantum annealers.

arXiv:2307.13961•Communications Physics•Nov 19, 2025•3 citations

Surface spin fluctuations probed with flux noise and coherence in Josephson phase qubits

D. Sank, R. Barends, Radoslaw C. Bialczak +15 more

We measure the dependence of qubit phase coherence and surface spin induced flux noise on inductor loop geometry. While wider inductor traces change neither the flux noise power spectrum nor the qubit dephasing time, increased inductance leads to a simultaneous increase in both. Using our protocol for measuring low frequency flux noise, we make a direct comparison between the flux noise spectrum and qubit phase decay, finding agreement within 10% of theory. The dependence of the measured flux noise on inductor geometry is consistent with a noise source correlation length between 6 and 400 um.

arXiv:1111.2890•Nov 12, 2011•0 citations
We have measured flux-noise correlations in a tunable superconducting flux qubit. The device consists of two loops that independently control the qubit's energy splitting and tunnel coupling. Low-frequency flux noise in the loops causes fluctuations of the qubit frequency and leads to dephasing. Since the noises in the two loops couple to different terms of the qubit Hamiltonian, a measurement of the dephasing rate at different bias points provides a way to extract both the amplitude and the sign of the noise correlations. We find that the flux fluctuations in the two loops are anticorrelated, consistent with a model where the flux noise is generated by randomly oriented unpaired spins on the metal surface.
We have studied decoherence in a system where two Josephson-junction flux qubits share a part of their superconducting loops and are inductively coupled. By tuning the flux-bias condition, we control the sensitivities of the energy levels to flux noises in each qubit. The dephasing rate of the first excited state is enhanced or suppressed depending on the amplitudes and the signs of the sensitivities. We have quantified the 1/f1/f1/f flux noises and their correlations and found that the dominant contribution is by local fluctuations.
Abstract : Qubit dephasing is governed by low-frequency noise in the bias parameters that control the energy separation between the qubit states. It has been shown that dephasing in phase and flux qubits is dominated by an excess low frequency magnetic flux noise with a 1/f power spectrum and magnitude at 1 Hz of order 1 microPhi0/sqrt(Hz). Recent experiments by McDermott et al. provide clear evidence for the existence of unpaired magnetic states on the surfaces of superconducting thin film devices; it is now believed that fluctuations of these surface spin states are the source of the ubiquitous 1/f flux noise. However, the microscopic mechanism that drives fluctuations of these spins is not understood; moreover, there is no clear path to reducing the flux noise magnitude. This program is devoted to a systematic investigation of magnetic surface defects in SQUIDs and phase qubits. Measurements of surface spin susceptibility and susceptibility noise will yield valuable clues about the microscopic nature of the magnetic fluctuators, and shed light on interactions between defects. The role of qubit loop geometry on flux noise magnitude and dephasing will be explored in detail. The experiments will guide theoretical efforts to develop improved models for flux noise.
We present a general phenomenological model for superconducting qubits subject to noise produced by two-state fluctuators whose couplings to the qubit are all roughly the same. In flux qubit experiments where the working point can be varied, it is possible to extract both the form of the noise spectrum and the number of fluctuators. We find that the noise has a broad spectrum consistent with 1/ f noise and that the number of fluctuators with slow switching rates is surprisingly small: less than 100. If the fluctuators are interpreted as unpaired surface spins, then the size of their magnetic moments is surprisingly large.
Flux noise is unanimously recognised as a leading dephasing mechanism for flux-tunable superconducting qubits. However, our microscopic understanding remains incomplete, and basic effects like Faraday's law of induction have only very recently come into focus. Based on a quantum geometric description of the Faraday effect, we provide an in-depth derivation of the coupling of generic magnetic sources to thin film superconducting structures, under appropriate consideration of the device geometry. We apply the resulting framework to time-varying magnetic dipoles, describing surface or substrate spins, as well as current-carrying flux lines. We show that flux noise not only affects dephasing, but also provides a fundamental limit for the qubit quality factor - notably, even when the qubit contains no loops and is thus nominally not flux-tunable. Assuming surface spins as the origin for universal flux noise, we expect that this quality factor limit might be reached in the near term. For flux lines, we formulate a minimal safety distance to conserve the qubit performance, potentially constraining the scale-up of quantum hardware. This distance is boosted in the presence of large capacitor wings typical for transmons, due to a lensing of the electromotive field which is largely independent of Meissner screening.
Quantum annealing is a method to solve optimization problems that leverages quantum tunneling in a coupled qubit system. We present a detailed study of the coherence of a tunable capacitively-shunted flux qubit, designed for coherent quantum annealing applications. We find that for high qubit frequencies, thermal noise in the bias line makes a significant contribution to the relaxation, arising from the design choice to experimentally explore both fast annealing and high-frequency control. The measured dephasing rate is primarily due to intrinsic low-frequency flux noise in the two qubit loops, with additional contribution from the low-frequency noise of control electronics used for fast annealing. Our results characterize decoherence in a realistic setup for quantum annealing and are relevant for ongoing efforts toward building superconducting quantum annealers with increased coherence. Quantum annealers hold promise of outperforming classical computers in solving hard optimization problems, but one main challenge is understanding the role of noise in quantum annealing. Here, the authors characterize the relevant noise sources in a tunable flux qubit, a building block for quantum annealers, and provide a benchmark for future work on highly-coherent quantum annealers.
We measure the dependence of qubit phase coherence and surface spin induced flux noise on inductor loop geometry. While wider inductor traces change neither the flux noise power spectrum nor the qubit dephasing time, increased inductance leads to a simultaneous increase in both. Using our protocol for measuring low frequency flux noise, we make a direct comparison between the flux noise spectrum and qubit phase decay, finding agreement within 10% of theory. The dependence of the measured flux noise on inductor geometry is consistent with a noise source correlation length between 6 and 400 um.