Dispersive readout, the standard method for measuring superconducting qubits, is limited by multiphoton qubit-resonator processes arising even at moderate drive powers. These processes degrade performance, causing dispersive readout to lag behind single- and two-qubit gates in both speed and fidelity. In this Letter, we propose a novel readout method, termed junction readout. Junction readout leverages the nonperturbative cross-Kerr interaction resulting from coupling a qubit and a resonator via a Josephson junction. Furthermore, by adding a capacitive coupling in parallel to the junction, Purcell decay induced by the exchange coupling can be suppressed. We also show that junction readout is more robust against deleterious multiphoton processes, and offers greater flexibility for resonator frequency allocation. Crucially, junction readout achieves superior performance compared to dispersive readout while maintaining similar hardware overhead. Numerical simulations show that junction readout can achieve fidelity exceeding 99.99% in under 30 ns of integration time, making it a promising alternative for superconducting qubit readout with current hardware.
Dispersive readout, the standard method for measuring superconducting qubits, is limited by multiphoton qubit-resonator processes arising even at moderate drive powers. These processes degrade performance, causing dispersive readout to lag behind single- and two-qubit gates in both speed and fidelity. In this Letter, we propose a novel readout method, termed junction readout. Junction readout leverages the nonperturbative cross-Kerr interaction resulting from coupling a qubit and a resonator via a Josephson junction. Furthermore, by adding a capacitive coupling in parallel to the junction, Purcell decay induced by the exchange coupling can be suppressed. We also show that junction readout is more robust against deleterious multiphoton processes, and offers greater flexibility for resonator frequency allocation. Crucially, junction readout achieves superior performance compared to dispersive readout while maintaining similar hardware overhead. Numerical simulations show that junction readout can achieve fidelity exceeding 99.99% in under 30 ns of integration time, making it a promising alternative for superconducting qubit readout with current hardware.
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.
Josephson junctions are a fundamental building block of superconducting quantum circuits. They provide the nonlinearity required to realize quantum bits and enable a wide range of nonlinear phenomena central to quantum technologies. This thesis explores two superconducting systems in which this nonlinearity plays a central role. In the first part, we investigate a superconducting resonator terminated by a superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID), an arrangement of two Josephson junctions connected in parallel. The SQUID provides a tunable Kerr nonlinearity and allows the resonator to be driven parametrically. Under the combined action of the parametric drive, Kerr nonlinearity, and dissipation to the environment, the state of the resonator can undergo abrupt changes as the pump frequency or amplitude is varied. We interpret these changes within the framework of dissipative phase transitions (DPTs). By implementing a finite-component thermodynamic limit, we experimentally and theoretically investigate both first- and second-order DPTs in this system. We characterize their steady-state and dynamical signatures, including squeezing below vacuum, phase coexistence, hysteresis, spontaneous symmetry breaking, and critical slowing down. Finally, we exploit the enhanced susceptibility near the second-order critical point to implement a frequency-estimation protocol. We show that the estimation precision scales quadratically with the effective system size, demonstrating that finite-component DPTs can provide a quantum advantage in a sensing protocol. In the second part, we investigate a novel architecture for the readout of superconducting qubits. Conventional dispersive readout relies on a transverse interaction between a transmon and a resonator, which can lead to Purcell decay and measurement-induced state transitions, ultimately limiting the readout fidelity. To overcome these limitations, we implement a nonlinear coupling by galvanically connecting the transmon and resonator through a Josephson junction. This interaction provides a strong cross-Kerr coupling for clear state discrimination, but also introduces a detrimental transverse interaction. We experimentally show that the exchange part of the transverse interaction can be suppressed by adding a capacitor in parallel with the coupling junction while preserving the strong cross-Kerr coupling. In addition, we show that the same circuit acts as an intrinsic Purcell filter, protecting the qubit against Purcell decay. The coupling junction also induces a Kerr nonlinearity in the resonator, which we exploit to implement a bifurcation readout with a 99.4 % fidelity in a 68 ns integration time. This performance is achieved without a dedicated Purcell filter or a near-quantum-limited amplifier. Overall, this thesis demonstrates the engineering of nonlinear superconducting circuits to investigate dissipative phase transitions, exploit criticality for enhanced quantum sensing, and develop a novel qubit readout architecture enabling fast, high-fidelity measurement.
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.
The performance of a wide range of quantum computing algorithms and protocols depends critically on the fidelity and speed of the employed qubit readout. Examples include gate sequences benefiting from midcircuit real-time measurement-based feedback, such as qubit initialization, entanglement generation, teleportation, and, perhaps most importantly, quantum error correction. A prominent and widely used readout approach is based on the dispersive interaction of a superconducting qubit strongly coupled to a large-bandwidth readout resonator, frequently combined with a dedicated or shared Purcell filter protecting qubits from decay. By dynamically reducing the qubit-resonator detuning and thus increasing the dispersive shift, we demonstrate a beyond-state-of-the-art two-state-readout error of only 0.25% in 100-ns integration time. Maintaining low-readout-drive strength, we nearly quadruple the signal-to-noise ratio of the readout by doubling the readout-mode line width, which we quantify by considering the hybridization of the readout resonator and its dedicated Purcell filter. We find excellent agreement between our experimental data and our theoretical model. The presented results are expected to further boost the performance of new and existing algorithms and protocols critically depending on high-fidelity fast midcircuit measurements. Published by the American Physical Society 2024
Fast and accurate qubit measurement remains a critical challenge on the path to fault-tolerant quantum computing. In superconducting quantum circuits, fast qubit measurement has been achieved using a dispersively coupled resonator with a large externally limited linewidth. This necessitates the use of a Purcell filter that protects the qubit from relaxation through the readout channel. Here, we show that a readout resonator and filter resonator, coupled to each other both capacitively and inductively via a multiconductor transmission line, can produce a compact notch-filter circuit that effectively eliminates the Purcell decay channel through destructive interference. By utilizing linewidths as large as 42 MHz, we perform simultaneous readout of four qubits using a 56-ns integration window and benchmark an average assignment fidelity of 99.77%, with the highest qubit assignment fidelity exceeding 99.9%. Including the simulated readout ring-down time, the total readout duration was between 115 and 215 ns for the four qubits, which we anticipate can be reduced to around 100 ns with active ring-down pulse shaping. These results demonstrate a significant advancement in speed and fidelity for multiplexed superconducting-qubit readout.
Quantum technologies, including those based on superconducting quantum circuits, require high-fidelity high-speed detection of the quantum state of a qubit. Standard quantum nondemolition readout of a superconducting qubit is based on its dispersive coupling to a resonator, but this method suffers from the Purcell effects: Purcell decay, critical photon number, and qubit-dependent Kerr nonlinearity. The authors propose a method in which both speed and fidelity of flux-qubit readout can avoid all three Purcell limitations.