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arXiv:2203.04164 · Physical Review Applied

Weakly Flux-Tunable Superconducting Qubit

José Chavez-Garcia, Firat Solgun, Jared Hertzberg, Oblesh Jinka, Markus Brink, Baleegh Abdo

Published Sep 22, 2022• 18 citations
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Abstract

Superconducting qubits are building blocks for quantum processors, but they suffer from frequency collisions, which hinder the construction of large qubit lattices. This study introduces weakly tunable qubits, whose frequency can be tuned over a small range via external magnetic flux. Through theoretical derivation and experimental demonstration, the authors show that these transmonlike qubits---without losing the desired key properties---can be used to avoid frequency collisions in large qubit systems while minimizing the sensitivity to flux noise. They can also be applied to operate flux-tuned qubit gates.

DOI
10.1103/physrevapplied.18.034057

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Superconducting qubits are building blocks for quantum processors, but they suffer from frequency collisions, which hinder the construction of large qubit lattices. This study introduces weakly tunable qubits, whose frequency can be tuned over a small range via external magnetic flux. Through theoretical derivation and experimental demonstration, the authors show that these transmonlike qubits---without losing the desired key properties---can be used to avoid frequency collisions in large qubit systems while minimizing the sensitivity to flux noise. They can also be applied to operate flux-tuned qubit gates.
As superconducting-qubit architectures progress to more complex layouts, frequency crowding in qubit arrays increasingly hinders computing performance. Frequency-tunable qubits can assuage this problem, but are subject to the magnetic-flux noise that is ubiquitous in such circuitry. The authors exploit asymmetric Josephson junctions in transmon qubits to reduce sensitivity to flux noise, while preserving sufficient tunability to avoid frequency collisions. In their most asymmetric qubit, dephasing due to flux noise is reduced to the point where its rate is independent of the flux bias.
Scaling up superconducting quantum processors with optimized performance requires a sufficient flexibility in the choice of operating points for single and two qubit gates to maximize their fidelity and cope with imperfections. Flux control is an efficient technique to manipulate the parameters of tunable qubits, in particular to activate entangling gates. At flux sensitive points of operation, the ubiquitous presence of 1/f flux noise however gives rise to dephasing by inducing fluctuations of the qubit frequency. We show how two-tone modulation of the flux bias, a bichromatic modulation, gives rise to a continuum of dynamical sweet spots where dephasing due to slow flux noise is suppressed to first order for a wide range of time-averaged qubit frequencies. The qubits can be operated at these dynamical sweet spots to realize protected entangling gates and to avoid collisions with two-level-system defects.
A central challenge in building a scalable quantum computer with superconducting qubits is simultaneously achieving long coherence times and fast two-qubit gates. Currently, fast (tunable) gates are obtained at the expense of coherence time. The authors propose a ``flatsonium'' qubit, based on the highly nonlinear fluxonium qubit, that yields both coherence and tunability---jackpot. Dephasing due to global flux noise is reduced by engineering flux-insensitive sweet spots in the qubit spectrum at the frequencies of interest, while leakage errors are eliminated by the typically large anharmonicity of its energy spectrum.
Generating high-fidelity, tunable entanglement between qubits is crucial for realizing gate-based quantum computation. In superconducting circuits, tunable interactions are often implemented using flux-tunable qubits or coupling elements, adding control complexity and noise sources. Here, we realize a tunable ZZZZZZ interaction between two transmon qubits with fixed frequencies and fixed coupling, induced by driving both transmons off-resonantly. We show tunable coupling over one order of magnitude larger than the static coupling, and change the sign of the interaction, enabling cancellation of the idle coupling. Further, this interaction is amenable to large quantum processors: the drive frequency can be flexibly chosen to avoid spurious transitions, and because both transmons are driven, it is resilient to microwave crosstalk. We apply this interaction to implement a controlled phase (CZ) gate with a gate fidelity of 99.43(1)%99.43(1)\%99.43(1)% as measured by cycle benchmarking, and we find the fidelity is limited by incoherent errors.
Generating high-fidelity, tunable entanglement between qubits is crucial for realizing gate-based quantum computation. In superconducting circuits, tunable interactions are often implemented using flux-tunable qubits or coupling elements, adding control complexity and noise sources. Here, we realize a tunable ZZ interaction between two transmon qubits with fixed frequencies and fixed coupling, induced by driving both transmons off resonantly. We show tunable coupling over 1 order of magnitude larger than the static coupling, and change the sign of the interaction, enabling cancellation of the idle coupling. Further, this interaction is amenable to large quantum processors: the drive frequency can be flexibly chosen to avoid spurious transitions, and because both transmons are driven, it is resilient to microwave cross talk. We apply this interaction to implement a controlled phase (CZ) gate with a gate fidelity of 99.43(1)% as measured by cycle benchmarking, and we find the fidelity is limited by incoherent errors.
Abstract The interconnection bottleneck caused by limitations of cable number, inner space and cooling power of dilution refrigerators has been an outstanding challenge for building scalable superconducting quantum computers with the increasing number of qubits in quantum processors. To surmount such an obstacle, it is desirable to integrate qubits with quantum–classical interface (QCI) circuits based on rapid single flux quantum (RSFQ) circuits. In this work, a digital flux tuner for qubits (DFTQ) is proposed for manipulating flux of qubits as a crucial part of the interface circuit. A schematic diagram of the DFTQ is presented, consisting of a coarse tuning unit and a fine-tuning unit for providing magnetic flux with different precision to qubits. The method of using DFTQ to provide flux for gate operations is discussed from the optimization of circuit design and input signal. To verify the effectiveness of the method, simulations of a single DFTQ and quantum gates including a Z gate and an iSWAP gate with DFTQs are performed for flux-tunable transmons. The quantum process tomography corresponding to the two gates is also carried out to analyze the sources of gate error. The results of tomography show that the gate fidelities independent of the initial states of the Z gate and the iSWAP gate are 99.935% and 99.676%, respectively. With DFTQs inside, the QCI would be a powerful tool for building large-scale quantum computers.