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arXiv:2412.07734 · Physical Review Applied

Robustness of longitudinal transmon readout to ionization

Alex A. Chapple, Alexander McDonald, Manuel H. Muñoz-Arias, Mathieu Lachapelle, Alexandre Blais

Published Aug 6, 2025• 7 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Multiphoton processes deteriorate the quantum nondemolition (QND) character of the dispersive readout in circuit QED, causing the readout to lag behind single- and two-qubit gates in both speed and fidelity. Alternative methods such as longitudinal readout have been proposed; however, it is unknown to what extent multiphoton processes hinder this approach. Here, we investigate the QND character of the longitudinal readout of the transmon qubit. We show that the deleterious effects that arise due to multiphoton transitions can be heavily suppressed with detuning because the longitudinal interaction strength is independent of the transmon-resonator detuning. We consider the effect of circuit disorder, the selection rules that act on the transmon, and the description of longitudinal readout in the classical limit of the transmon to qualitatively demonstrate that longitudinal readout is robust. We show that fast, high-fidelity QND readout of transmon qubits is possible with longitudinal coupling.

DOI
10.1103/mp2x-zj3y

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Multiphoton processes deteriorate the quantum nondemolition (QND) character of the dispersive readout in circuit QED, causing the readout to lag behind single- and two-qubit gates in both speed and fidelity. Alternative methods such as longitudinal readout have been proposed; however, it is unknown to what extent multiphoton processes hinder this approach. Here, we investigate the QND character of the longitudinal readout of the transmon qubit. We show that the deleterious effects that arise due to multiphoton transitions can be heavily suppressed with detuning because the longitudinal interaction strength is independent of the transmon-resonator detuning. We consider the effect of circuit disorder, the selection rules that act on the transmon, and the description of longitudinal readout in the classical limit of the transmon to qualitatively demonstrate that longitudinal readout is robust. We show that fast, high-fidelity QND readout of transmon qubits is possible with longitudinal coupling.
Despite the high measurement fidelity that can now be reached, the dispersive qubit readout of circuit quantum electrodynamics is plagued by a loss of its quantum nondemolition character and a decrease in fidelity with increased measurement strength. In this work, we elucidate the nature of this dynamical process, which we refer to as transmon ionization. We develop a comprehensive framework which provides a physical picture of the origin of transmon ionization. This framework consists of three complementary levels of descriptions: a fully quantized transmon-resonator model, a semiclassical model where the resonator is treated as a classical drive on the transmon, and a fully classical model. Crucially, all three approaches preserve the full cosine potential of the transmon and lead to similar predictions. This framework identifies the multiphoton resonances responsible for transmon ionization. It also allows one to efficiently compute numerical estimates of the photon number threshold for ionization, which are in remarkable agreement with recent experimental results. The tools developed within this work are both conceptually and computationally simple, and we expect them to become an integral part of the theoretical underpinning of all circuit QED experiments. Published by the American Physical Society 2024
The fidelity and quantum nondemolition character of the dispersive readout in circuit QED are limited by unwanted transitions to highly excited states at specific photon numbers in the readout resonator. This observation can be explained by multiphoton resonances between computational states and highly excited states in strongly driven nonlinear systems, analogous to multiphoton ionization in atoms and molecules. In this work, we utilize the multilevel nature of high- E J / E C transmons to probe the excited-state dynamics induced by strong drives during readout. With up to ten resolvable states, we quantify the critical photon number of ionization, the resulting state after ionization, and the fraction of the population transferred to highly excited states. Moreover, using pulse shaping to control the photon number in the readout resonator in the high-power regime, we tune the adiabaticity of the transition and verify that transmon ionization is a Landau-Zener-type transition. We further extend these methods to a typical transmon with E J / E C ≈ 55 and probe the offset-charge dependence of ionization dynamics in a timed-resolved manner. Our experimental results agree well with the theoretical prediction from a semiclassical driven transmon model and may guide future exploration of strongly driven nonlinear oscillators.
Dispersive readout of superconducting qubits relies on a transverse capacitive coupling that hybridizes the qubit with the readout resonator, subjecting the qubit to Purcell decay and measurement-induced state transitions (MIST). Despite the widespread use of Purcell filters to suppress qubit decay and near-quantum-limited amplifiers, dispersive readout often lags behind single- and two-qubit gates in both speed and fidelity. Here, we experimentally demonstrate junction readout, a simple readout architecture that realizes a strong qubit-resonator cross-Kerr interaction without relying on a transverse coupling. This interaction is achieved by coupling a transmon qubit to its readout resonator through both a capacitance and a Josephson junction. By varying the qubit frequency, we show that this hybrid coupling provides intrinsic Purcell protection and enhanced resilience to MIST, enabling readout at high photon numbers. While junction readout is compatible with conventional linear measurement, in this work we exploit the nonlinear coupling to intentionally engineer a large Kerr nonlinearity in the resonator, enabling bifurcation-based readout. Using this approach, we achieve a 99.4 % assignment fidelity with a 68 ns integration time and a 98.4 % QND fidelity without an external Purcell filter or a near-quantum-limited amplifier. These results establish the junction readout architecture with bifurcation-based readout as a scalable and practical alternative to dispersive readout, enabling fast, high-fidelity qubit measurement with reduced hardware overhead.
We analyze a readout scheme for Majorana qubits based on dispersive coupling to a resonator.We consider two variants of Majorana qubits: the Majorana transmon and the Majorana box qubit.In both cases, the qubit-resonator interaction can produce sizeable dispersive shifts in the megahertz range for reasonable system parameters, allowing for submicrosecond readout with high fidelity.For Majorana transmons, the light-matter interaction used for readout manifestly conserves Majorana parity, which leads to a notion of quantum nondemolition (QND) readout that is stronger than for conventional charge qubits.In contrast, Majorana box qubits only recover an approximately QND readout mechanism in the dispersive limit where the resonator detuning is large.We also compare dispersive readout to longitudinal readout for the Majorana box qubit.We show that the latter gives faster and higher fidelity readout for reasonable parameters, while having the additional advantage of being manifestly QND, and so may prove to be a better readout mechanism for these systems.
Dispersive readout of the transmon qubit in circuit QED is known to lose its quantum non-demolition character at small to moderate measurement drive amplitudes. This phenomenon is understood to originate from Laundau-Zener transitions at accidental multi-photon resonances, where nnn drive photons can promote the transmon by mmm levels. This interpretation has been shown to be in agreement with experiments characterizing the dispersive readout of a single transmon. The impact of these measurement-induced state transition (MIST) of a transmon embedded in a multi-qubit chip, however, remains largely unexplored. Here, we show that the presence of other components, such as qubits and couplers, can affect the MIST threshold of a measured transmon. To arrive at these results, we present a general method to characterize measurement-induced transition when the qubit under readout is coupled to other circuit elements, a ubiquitous situation in circuit QED-based quantum processors. As an example, we consider the case of two transmon qubits, and we show that the spectator qubit can be impacted by the measurement-induced transition of the readout qubit and, conversely, that the presence of the spectator qubit can lower the MIST threshold of the readout qubit. Finally, we explore how adding a coupler mode between the two qubits further modifies these effects.
Fast, high-fidelity, and quantum nondemolition (QND) qubit readout is an essential element of quantum information processing. For superconducting qubits, state-of-the-art readout is based on a dispersive cross-Kerr coupling between a qubit and its readout resonator. The resulting readout can be high fidelity and QND, but readout times are currently limited to the order of 50 nanoseconds due to the dispersive cross-Kerr of magnitude 10 megahertz. Here, we present a readout scheme that uses the quarton coupler to facilitate a large (greater than 200 megahertz) cross-Kerr between a transmon qubit and its readout resonator. Full master equation simulations of the coupled system show a 5-nanosecond readout time with greater than 99% readout fidelity and greater than 99.9% QND fidelity. The quartonic readout circuit is experimentally feasible and preserves the coherence properties of the qubit. Our work reveals a path for order of magnitude improvements of superconducting qubit readout by engineering nonlinear light-matter couplings in parameter regimes unreachable by existing designs.