We describe a superconducting circuit consisting of a Josephson junction in parallel with a quantum phase slip wire, which implements a Hamiltonian that is periodic in both charge and flux. This Hamiltonian is exactly diagonalizable in a double-Bloch band, and the eigenstates are shown to be code states of the Gottesman-Kitaev-Preskill quantum error correcting code. The eigenspectrum has several critical points, where the linear sensitivity to external charge and flux noise vanishes. The states at these critical points thus hold promise as qubit states that are insensitive to common external noise sources.
We describe a superconducting circuit consisting of a Josephson junction in parallel with a quantum phase slip wire, which implements a Hamiltonian that is periodic in both charge and flux. This Hamiltonian is exactly diagonalizable in a double-Bloch band, and the eigenstates are shown to be code states of the Gottesman-Kitaev-Preskill quantum error correcting code. The eigenspectrum has several critical points, where the linear sensitivity to external charge and flux noise vanishes. The states at these critical points thus hold promise as qubit states that are insensitive to common external noise sources.
We describe a superconducting circuit consisting of a Josephson junction in parallel with a quantum phase slip wire, which implements a Hamiltonian that is periodic in both charge and flux. This Hamiltonian is exactly diagonalisable in a double-Bloch band, and the eigenstates are shown to be code states of the Gottesman-Kitaev-Preskill quantum error correcting code. The eigenspectrum has several critical points, where the linear sensitivity to external charge and flux noise vanishes. The states at these critical points thus hold promise as qubit states that are insensitive to external noise sources.
Decoherence errors arising from noisy environments remain a central obstacle to progress in quantum computation and information processing. Quantum error correction (QEC) based on the Gottesman-Kitaev-Preskill (GKP) protocol offers a powerful strategy to overcome this challenge, with successful demonstrations in trapped ions, superconducting circuits, and photonics. Beyond active QEC, a compelling alternative is to engineer Hamiltonians that intrinsically enforce stabilizers, offering passive protection akin to topological models. Inspired by the GKP encoding scheme, we implement a superconducting qubit whose eigenstates form protected grid states - long envisioned but not previously realized - by integrating an effective Cooper-quartet junction with a quantum phase-slip element embedded in a high-impedance circuit. Spectroscopic measurements reveal pairs of degenerate states separated by large energy gaps, in excellent agreement with theoretical predictions. Remarkably, our observations indicate that the circuit tolerates small disorders and gains robustness against environmental noise as its parameters approach the ideal regime, establishing a new framework for exploring superconducting hardware. These findings also showcase the versatility of the superconducting circuit toolbox, setting the stage for future exploration of advanced solid-state devices with emergent properties.
Abstract The non-dissipative nonlinearity of Josephson junctions1 converts macroscopic superconducting circuits into artificial atoms2, enabling some of the best-controlled qubits today3, 4. Three fundamental types of superconducting qubit are known5, each reflecting a distinct behaviour of quantum fluctuations in a Cooper pair condensate: single-charge tunnelling (charge qubit6, 7), single-flux tunnelling (flux qubit8) and phase oscillations (phase qubit9 or transmon10). Yet, the dual nature of charge and flux suggests that circuit atoms must come in pairs. Here we introduce the missing superconducting qubit, ‘blochnium’, which exploits a coherent insulating response of a single Josephson junction that emerges from the extension of phase fluctuations beyond 2π (refs. 11–14). Evidence for such an effect has been found in out-of-equilibrium direct-current transport through junctions connected to high-impedance leads15–19, although a full consensus on the existence of extended phase fluctuations is so far absent20–22. We shunt a weak junction with an extremely high inductance—the key technological innovation in our experiment—and measure the radiofrequency excitation spectrum as a function of external magnetic flux through the resulting loop. The insulating character of the junction is manifested by the vanishing flux sensitivity of the qubit transition between the ground state and the first excited state, which recovers rapidly for transitions to higher-energy states. The spectrum agrees with a duality mapping of blochnium onto a transmon, which replaces the external flux by the offset charge and introduces a new collective quasicharge variable instead of the superconducting phase23, 24. Our findings may motivate the exploration of macroscopic quantum dynamics in ultrahigh-impedance circuits, with potential applications in quantum computing and metrology.
In thin superconducting wires, phase-slip by thermal activation near the critical temperature is a well-known effect. It has recently become clear that phase-slip by quantum tunnelling through the energy barrier can also have a significant rate at low temperatures. In this paper, it is suggested that quantum phase-slip can be used to realize a superconducting quantum bit without Josephson junctions. A loop containing very thin nanofabricated wire is biased with an externally applied magnetic flux of half a flux quantum, resulting in two states with opposite circulating current and equal energy. Quantum phase-slip should provide coherent coupling between these two macroscopic states. Numbers are given for a wire of amorphous niobium-silicon that can be fabricated with advanced electron beam lithography.
We present a circuit design composed of two Josephson junctions coupled by a nonreciprocal element, the gyrator, whose ground space is doubly degenerate.The ground states are approximate code words of the Gottesman-Kitaev-Preskill code.We determine the low-energy dynamics of the circuit by working out the equivalence of this system to the problem of a single electron in a crystal, confined to a two-dimensional plane, and subjected to a strong, homogeneous magnetic field.We find that the circuit is naturally protected against the common noise channels in superconducting circuits, such as charge and flux noise, implying that it can be used for passive quantum error correction.We also propose realistic design parameters for an experimental realization, and we describe possible protocols to perform logical one-and two-qubit gates, state preparation, and readout.
We propose a simple circuit architecture for a dissipatively error corrected Gottesman-Kitaev-Preskill (GKP) qubit. The device consists of a electromagnetic resonator with impedance h/2e2≈12.91kΩ connected to a Josephson junction with a voltage bias oscillating at twice the resonator frequency. For large drive amplitudes, the circuit is effectively described by the GKP stabilizer Hamiltonian, whose low-energy subspace forms the code space for a qubit protected against phase-space local noise. The GKP states in the codespace can be dissipatively stabilized and error corrected by coupling the resonator to a bath through a bandpass filter; a resulting side-band cooling effect stabilizes the system in the GKP code space, dissipatively correcting it against both bit and phase flip errors. Simulations show that this dissipative error correction can enhance coherence time by factor ∼1000 with NbN-based junctions, for operating temperatures in the ∼100mK range. The scheme can be used to stabilize both square- and hexagonal-lattice GKP codes. Finally, a Josephson current based readout scheme, and dissipatively corrected single-qubit Clifford gates are proposed.