The multi-qubit gates fidelity of superconducting quantum processors can be limited due to the dressing of computational states by noncomputational ones. Here, we experimentally and analytically investigate a transmon-transmon-bus system where the computational states dressing is tunable over a broad range. We estimate the dressing using three methods: a full three-element model, an effective mode approach, and an unperturbed mode approach. The obtained results highlight the importance of the accurate estimation and control of the computational states dressing in order to optimize gates on superconducting platform.
The multi-qubit gates fidelity of superconducting quantum processors can be limited due to the dressing of computational states by noncomputational ones. Here, we experimentally and analytically investigate a transmon-transmon-bus system where the computational states dressing is tunable over a broad range. We estimate the dressing using three methods: a full three-element model, an effective mode approach, and an unperturbed mode approach. The obtained results highlight the importance of the accurate estimation and control of the computational states dressing in order to optimize gates on superconducting platform.
Quantum computing offers the potential to surpass classical computing speeds by leveraging quantum entanglement and superposition. However, progress towards fault-tolerant quantum computers is limited by low qubit counts and considerable gate errors. A promising direction involves transitioning from two-level qubits to d-level qudits, expanding the state space beyond conventional qubit-based quantum computers. The superconducting transmon-tunable coupler-transmon (TTT) system has emerged as a key building block of current quantum processors. Recent demonstration has shown its capability to host three-level qudits (qutrits), including the implementation of qutrit controlled-phase (CPhase) gate via an adiabatic scheme. Despite this progress, further modeling or optimization studies for the qudit-based TTT system are still unexplored. In this work, we propose an integrated simulation framework that predicts the cross-Kerr interactions of the TTT system and the fidelities of two-qutrit CPhase gate with the presence of noise effect. We validate the prediction of the cross-Kerr interactions against data from TTT systems reported in the literature. We also identify the conditions for the maximum target frequency in the adiabatic scheme necessary to achieve higher qutrit CPhase gate fidelity. Furthermore, we demonstrate the control-device co-optimization of the system, showing the potential of achieving the highest gate fidelity allowed by the hardware and noise. This work provides valuable insights which can guide the development towards more reliable and powerful superconducting quantum processors.
Building a scalable quantum computer requires developing appropriate models to understand and verify its complex quantum dynamics. We focus on superconducting quantum processors based on transmons for which full numerical simulations are already challenging at the level of qubytes. It is thus highly desirable to develop accurate methods of modeling qubit networks that do not rely solely on numerical computations. Using systematic perturbation theory to large orders in the transmon regime, we derive precise analytic expressions of the transmon parameters. We apply our results to the case of parametrically modulated transmons to study recently implemented, parametrically activated entangling gates.
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 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)% 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.
A possible building block for a scalable quantum computer has recently been demonstrated [Mariantoni et al., Science 334, 61 (2011)]. This architecture consists of superconducting qubits capacitively coupled both to individual memory resonators as well as a common bus. In this work we study a natural primitive entangling gate for this and related resonator-based architectures, which consists of a controlled-${\ensuremath{\sigma}}^{z}$ (cz) operation between a qubit and the bus. The cz gate is implemented with the aid of the noncomputational qubit $|2\ensuremath{\rangle}$ state [Strauch et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 91, 167005 (2003)]. Assuming phase or transmon qubits with 300 MHz anharmonicity, we show that by using only low frequency qubit-bias control it is possible to implement the qubit-bus cz gate with 99.9 (99.99) fidelity in about 17ns (23ns) with a realistic two-parameter pulse profile, plus two auxiliary z rotations. The fidelity measure we refer to here is a state-averaged intrinsic process fidelity, which does not include any effects of noise or decoherence. These results apply to a multiqubit device that includes strongly coupled memory resonators. We investigate the performance of the qubit-bus cz gate as a function of qubit anharmonicity, identify the dominant intrinsic error mechanism and derive an associated fidelity estimator, quantify the pulse shape sensitivity and precision requirements, simulate qubit-qubit cz gates that are mediated by the bus resonator, and also attempt a global optimization of system parameters including resonator frequencies and couplings. Our results are relevant for a wide range of superconducting hardware designs that incorporate resonators and suggest that it should be possible to demonstrate a 99.9 cz gate with existing transmon qubits, which would constitute an important step towards the development of an error-corrected superconducting quantum computer.
Superconducting qubits have emerged as a leading platform for realizing quantum computers. Accurate modeling of these devices is essential for predicting performance, improving design, and optimizing control. Many modeling approaches currently rely on lumped circuit approximations or other simplified treatments that can be limited in resolving the interplay between the qubit dynamics and the electromagnetic circuitry, leading to significant experimental deviations from numerical predictions at times. To address many of these limitations, methods that self-consistently solve the Schrödinger equation for qubit dynamics with the classical Maxwell's equations have been developed and shown to accurately predict a wide range of effects related to superconducting qubit control and readout. Despite these successes, these methods have not been able to consider multi-qubit effects that give rise to qubit-qubit entanglement. Here, we address this by rigorously deriving how multi-qubit coupling effects between transmon qubits can be embedded into Maxwell-Schrödinger methods. To support this, we build on earlier first-principles derivations of Maxwell-Schrödinger methods for the specific case of two transmon qubits coupled together through a common electromagnetic system in the dispersive regime. To aid in validating aspects of the Maxwell-Schrödinger framework, we also provide a new interpretation of Maxwell-Schrödinger methods as an efficient simulation strategy to capture the class of non-Markovian open quantum system dynamics. Our results demonstrate that these effects can give rise to strong classical crosstalk that can significantly alter multi-qubit dynamics, which we demonstrate for the cross-resonance gate. These classical crosstalk effects have been noted in cross-resonance experiments, but previous quantum theory and device analysis could not explain their origin.