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arXiv:2402.09504 · Applied Physics Letters

Superconducting quantum memory with a suspended coaxial resonator

Lev Krayzman, Chan U Lei, Suhas Ganjam, James D. Teoh, Luigi Frunzio, Robert J. Schoelkopf

Published May 13, 2024• 2 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

A promising way to store quantum information is by encoding it in the bosonic excitations of microwave resonators. This provides for long coherence times, low dephasing rates, as well as a hardware-efficient approach to quantum error correction. There are two main methods used to make superconducting microwave resonators: by traditionally machining them out of bulk material and by lithographically fabricating them on a chip in thin film. 3D resonators have few loss channels and larger mode volumes, and therefore smaller participations in the lossy parts, but it can be challenging to achieve high material quality. On-chip resonators can use low-loss thin films, but they confine the field more tightly, resulting in higher participations and additional loss channels from the dielectric substrate. In this work, we present a design in which a dielectric scaffold supports a thin-film conductor within a 3D package, thus combining the low surface participations of bulk-machined cavities with high quality and control over materials of thin-film circuits. By incorporating a separate chip containing a transmon qubit, we realize a quantum memory and measure single-photon lifetimes in excess of a millisecond. This hybrid 3D architecture has several advantages for scaling as it relaxes the importance of the package and permits modular construction with separately replaceable qubit and resonator devices.

DOI
10.1063/5.0203906

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A promising way to store quantum information is by encoding it in the bosonic excitations of microwave resonators. This provides for long coherence times, low dephasing rates, as well as a hardware-efficient approach to quantum error correction. There are two main methods used to make superconducting microwave resonators: by traditionally machining them out of bulk material and by lithographically fabricating them on a chip in thin film. 3D resonators have few loss channels and larger mode volumes, and therefore smaller participations in the lossy parts, but it can be challenging to achieve high material quality. On-chip resonators can use low-loss thin films, but they confine the field more tightly, resulting in higher participations and additional loss channels from the dielectric substrate. In this work, we present a design in which a dielectric scaffold supports a thin-film conductor within a 3D package, thus combining the low surface participations of bulk-machined cavities with high quality and control over materials of thin-film circuits. By incorporating a separate chip containing a transmon qubit, we realize a quantum memory and measure single-photon lifetimes in excess of a millisecond. This hybrid 3D architecture has several advantages for scaling as it relaxes the importance of the package and permits modular construction with separately replaceable qubit and resonator devices.
Microwave quantum memory represents a critical component for quantum radars and resource-efficient approaches to quantum error correction. Superconducting microwave resonators provide highly efficient storage, long coherence times, on-demand reading, and even memory pulse engineering, but it is still challenging to overcome design and materials induced loss channels for on-chip realization. In this Letter, we present a novel architecture of integrated superconducting quantum memory with a dynamically controlled RF-SQUID coupling element in pulse regime, thus ensuring high efficiency storage and cycling storage time. It demonstrates a memory cycle time of 1.51 μs and 57.5(4)% storage fidelity with preservation of the stored pulse shape during the retrieval at single-photon level excitations. We establish that while the proposed active coupler realization introduces no measurable fidelity degradation, the primary limitation arises from impedance matching and materials imperfections. Still the device was used only for storing finite-duration near-single-photon classical microwave pulses, we assert that it operates as a linear device when the photon population in the common resonator remains low so it should be compatible with quantum state storage. The proposed architecture highlights a disruptive potential for on-chip qubit and memory integration for scalable quantum error correction, while identifying specific avenues for near-unity storage fidelity.
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The performance of superconducting quantum circuits for quantum computing has advanced tremendously in recent decades; however, a comprehensive understanding of relaxation mechanisms does not yet exist. In this work, we utilize a multimode approach to characterizing energy losses in superconducting quantum circuits, with the goals of predicting device performance and improving coherence through materials, process, and circuit design optimization. Using this approach, we measure significant reductions in surface and bulk dielectric losses by employing a tantalum-based materials platform and annealed sapphire substrates. With this knowledge we predict the relaxation times of aluminum- and tantalum-based transmon qubits, and find that they are consistent with experimental results. We additionally optimize device geometry to maximize coherence within a coaxial tunnel architecture, and realize on-chip quantum memories with single-photon Ramsey times of 2.0 - 2.7 ms, limited by their energy relaxation times of 1.0 - 1.4 ms. These results demonstrate an advancement towards a more modular and compact coaxial circuit architecture for bosonic qubits with reproducibly high coherence.
Superconducting 3D microwave cavities offer state-of-the-art coherence times and a well controlled environment for superconducting qubits. In order to realize at the same time fast readout and long-lived quantum information storage, one can couple the qubit both to a low-quality readout and a high-quality storage cavity. However, such systems are bulky compared to their less coherent 2D counterparts. A more compact and scalable approach is achieved by making use of the multimode structure of a 3D cavity. In our work, we investigate such a device where a transmon qubit is capacitively coupled to two modes of a single 3D cavity. The external coupling is engineered so that the memory mode has an about 100 times larger quality factor than the readout mode. Using an all-microwave second-order protocol, we realize a lifetime enhancement of the stored state over the qubit lifetime by a factor of 666 with a ZZZ-fidelity of 82%82\%82%. We also find that this enhancement is not limited by fundamental constraints.
Quantum memories and networks for distributed quantum information processing require links between the microwave, mechanical, and optical domains. Coherent integration of long-lived superconducting qubits (SCQs) with optomechanical and photonic devices (OMPDs) remains an outstanding challenge. We present a step towards coherent integration using a suspended trace air-gap resonator (STAR): a superconducting resonator on a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrate with the signal trace suspended by silicon tethers above and between galvanically connected ground metal planes. As a result, the electric field energy is closely confined within the microwave structure, yielding lower crosstalk compared to conventional coplanar waveguides (CPW). An order of magnitude improvement in the quality factors for STAR over previous work on SOI is achieved, in a transverse cross-sectional area that is an order of magnitude more compact. Electric field participation in lossy bulk dielectrics, a dominant source of energy leakage in previous measurements of aluminum CPW resonators on SOI, is virtually eliminated in STAR. The loss from the metal-air interface now dominates, but can be reduced by several factors using superconductors with better surface properties. Most importantly, STAR fabrication is compatible with Josephson junction and air-bridge deposition for highly coherent integration of SCQs and OMPDs to realize proposals for quantum information storage and networking.
Three-dimensional microwave cavity resonators have been shown to reach lifetimes of the order of a second by maximizing the cavity volume relative to its surface, using better materials, and improving surface treatments. Such cavities represent an ideal platform for quantum computing with bosonic qubits, but their efficient control remains an outstanding problem since the large mode volume results in less efficient coupling to nonlinear elements used for their control. Moreover, this coupling induces additional cavity decay via the inverse Purcell effect that can easily destroy the advantage of a long intrinsic lifetime. Here, we discuss conditions on, and protocols for, efficient utilization of these ultra-high-quality microwave cavities as memories for conventional superconducting qubits. We show that, surprisingly, efficient write and read operations with ultra-high-quality cavities do not require similar quality factors for the qubits and other nonlinear elements used to control them. Through a combination of analytical and numerical calculations, we demonstrate that efficient coupling to cavities with second-scale lifetime is possible with state-of-the-art transmon and superconducting nonlinear asymmetric inductive element devices and outline a route towards controlling cavities with even higher quality factors. Our work explores a potentially viable roadmap towards using ultra-high-quality microwave cavity resonators for storing and processing information encoded in bosonic qubits. Published by the American Physical Society 2024