A significant challenge in the design of large-scale quantum processors is the presence of unwanted qubit-qubit crosstalk, which leads to uncontrollable accumulation of correlated errors. This work introduces a superconducting device that can controllably turn qubit-qubit interactions on and off. The design takes hints from noise-protected bosonic qubits to obtain $e\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}x\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}p\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}o\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}n\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}e\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}n\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}t\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}i\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}a\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}l$ suppression of crosstalk in the off state. These results offer the possibility to keep crosstalk under control in large superconducting processors. Notably, this approach complements the recently introduced protected qubits; an architecture based on them and the proposed coupler would have built-in protection.
A significant challenge in the design of large-scale quantum processors is the presence of unwanted qubit-qubit crosstalk, which leads to uncontrollable accumulation of correlated errors. This work introduces a superconducting device that can controllably turn qubit-qubit interactions on and off. The design takes hints from noise-protected bosonic qubits to obtain e\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}x\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}p\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}o\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}n\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}e\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}n\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}t\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}i\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}a\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}l suppression of crosstalk in the off state. These results offer the possibility to keep crosstalk under control in large superconducting processors. Notably, this approach complements the recently introduced protected qubits; an architecture based on them and the proposed coupler would have built-in protection.
As superconducting quantum processors continue to scale, high-performance quantum control becomes increasingly critical. In densely integrated architectures, unwanted interactions between nearby qubits give rise to crosstalk errors that limit operational performance. In particular, direct exchange-type ( XY ) interactions are typically minimized by designing large frequency detunings between neighboring qubits at the hardware level. However, frequency crowding in large-scale systems ultimately restricts the achievable frequency separation. While such XY coupling facilitates entangling gate operations, its residual presence poses a key challenge during single-qubit controls. Here, we propose a scalable pulse-level control framework, incorporating frequency modulation and dynamical decoupling to suppress XY crosstalk errors. This framework operates independently of coupling strengths, reducing calibration overhead and naturally supporting multiqubit connectivity. Numerical simulations show orders-of-magnitude reductions in infidelity for both idle and single-qubit gates in a two-qubit system. We further illustrate scalability in a five-qubit layout, where crosstalk between a central qubit and four neighbors is simultaneously suppressed. Our crosstalk suppression framework provides a practical route toward high-fidelity operation in dense superconducting architectures.
Tunable couplers, which turn on and off the interaction between qubits, have emerged as a key means to achieve low error rates in superconducting quantum computers. Conventional devices using one transmon qubit exhibit unwanted residual coupling, though, especially at the high detuning that is desirable for suppressing crosstalk errors. To solve this critical problem, the author proposes a tunable coupler based on two transmons that satisfies the ideal conditions of no residual coupling and fast two-qubit gate operations at high detuning. This double-transmon coupler is expected to become standard for superconducting architectures by eliminating unwanted coupling during idle time.
As superconducting quantum processors scale to large qubit counts, unwanted microwave drive crosstalk becomes an important source of coherent errors. Here, we investigate the role of parasitic coupling paths in the suppression of drive crosstalk in a processor with two fixed-frequency transmon qubits and a tunable coupler. To account for the many different coupling paths, we develop a detailed circuit model to capture the dependence of crosstalk on the coupler frequency. We experimentally demonstrate suppression of crosstalk, finding that the suppression does not originate solely from cancellation of the effective qubit-qubit coupling, but also is a result of interference between other coupling paths. Building on these insights, we show that drive crosstalk can be suppressed with the right choice of parasitic capacitances, which otherwise often are treated as unwanted design imperfections. Our results provide practical guidance for low-crosstalk device design of superconducting quantum processors and point toward a broader strategy in which parasitic coupling paths are engineered rather than simply minimized.
Superconducting qubits have achieved exceptional gate fidelities, exceeding the error-correction threshold in recent years. One key ingredient of such improvement is the introduction of tunable couplers to control the qubit-to-qubit coupling through frequency tuning. Moving toward fault-tolerant quantum computation, increasing the number of physical qubits is another step toward effective error correction codes. Under a multiqubit architecture, flux control (Z) lines are crucial in tuning the frequency of the qubits and couplers. However, dense flux lines result in magnetic flux crosstalk, wherein magnetic flux applied to one element inadvertently affects neighboring qubits or couplers. This crosstalk obscures the idle frequency of the qubit when flux bias is applied, which degrades gate performance and calibration accuracy. In this study, we characterize flux crosstalk and suppress it in a multiqubit-coupler chip with multi-Z lines without adding additional readout for couplers. By quantifying the mutual flux-induced frequency shifts of qubits and couplers, we construct a cancellation matrix that enables precise compensation of non-local flux, demonstrating a substantial reduction in Z-line crosstalk from 56.5‰ to 0.13‰, which is close to statistical error. Flux compensation corrects the CZ SWAP measurement, leading to a symmetric map with respect to flux bias. Compared with a crosstalk-free calculated CZ SWAP map, the measured map indicates that our approach provides a near-zero crosstalk for the coupler-transmon system. These results highlight the effectiveness of our approach in enhancing flux crosstalk-free control and supporting its potential for scaling superconducting quantum processors.
As superconducting quantum processors continue to scale, high-performance quantum control becomes increasingly critical. In densely integrated architectures, unwanted interactions between nearby qubits give rise to crosstalk errors that limit operational performance. In particular, direct exchange-type (XY) interactions are typically minimized by designing large frequency detunings between neighboring qubits at the hardware level. However, frequency crowding in large-scale systems ultimately restricts the achievable frequency separation. While such XY coupling facilitates entangling gate operations, its residual presence poses a key challenge during single-qubit controls. Here, we propose a scalable pulse-level control framework, incorporating frequency modulation (FM) and dynamical decoupling (DD), to suppress XY crosstalk errors. This framework operates independently of coupling strengths, reducing calibration overhead and naturally supporting multi-qubit connectivity. Numerical simulations show orders-of-magnitude reductions in infidelity for both idle and single-qubit gates in a two-qubit system. We further validate scalability in a five-qubit layout, where crosstalk between a central qubit and four neighbors is simultaneously suppressed. Our crosstalk suppression framework provides a practical route toward high-fidelity operation in dense superconducting architectures.
To scale superconducting quantum processors, it is essential to achieve long coherence times while engineering interactions that do not introduce additional decoherence channels. In superconducting qubit systems, this can be realized using multimode circuits that feature a protected qubit mode alongside a distinct mediator mode. Building on this concept, our recently developed P-mon qubit provides intrinsic protection against decoherence from the readout environment. We extend this approach to controlled two-qubit interactions, by exploiting the mediator modes of P-mons for on-demand coupling. Because direct interactions between the qubit modes are strongly suppressed, unwanted ZZ-type interactions are significantly reduced to below 3.6(5)kHz in the idle state. When tuning the coupled mediator modes on resonance, the cross-Kerr interaction between the qubit and the hybridized mediator modes leads to a qubit-state dependent frequency shift. By selectively addressing these transitions, we implement a 180ns long CZ gate and determine a fidelity of $99.62(4)~\text{%}$. These results represent a significant step toward a scalable superconducting architecture that maintains high performance at scale.