Coherent behavior of two interacting Dayem bridges

Kōichi Shimoda

P. E. Lindelöf, Jørn Bindslev Hansen, J. Mygind +2 more

Ella O. Lachman, Dave P. Pappas, Jayss Marshall +1 more

Accurate knowledge of the on-chip temperature is essential for understanding and optimizing the performance of superconducting qubits, yet direct thermometry at millikelvin temperatures remains challenging. While qubits themselves are sensitive to the temperature of their environment, other factors may affect the qubits` effective temperature, and using them as thermometers with any accuracy requires specialized measurement protocols and qubit designs, limiting their practicality for routine diagnostics and adding complex infrastructure to any hardware testing apparatus. Here we demonstrate a complementary on-chip thermometry method based on superconducting Dayem bridges that are integrated on the same chip as transmon qubits. By extracting the critical current of the Dayem bridge from I-V measurements, we obtain a local, quantitative measure of the chip temperature without the need for microwave calibration or qubit-specific control sequences. To demonstrate the utility of the Dayem bridges as thermometers, we fabricate them in-situ with qubits on the same chip, calibrate the Dayem bridge critical current as a function of temperature, and characterize its resolution and stability at cryogenic temperatures. We additionally perform simultaneous measurements of the Dayem bridge thermometer and qubit excited-state population, and show agreement over the relevant temperature range, validating the method against established qubit thermometry. Furthermore, we correlate the independently measured chip temperature with qubit energy relaxation and dephasing times, demonstrating the utility of this approach for diagnosing temperature-dependent decoherence mechanisms. These results establish integrated Dayem bridges as a simple, non-invasive, and scalable tool for cryogenic hardware development, and on chip thermometry in superconducting quantum circuits.

Kōichi Shimoda

Gareth Podd, G. D. Hutchinson, D. A. Williams +1 more

We describe the fabrication and measurement of a micrometer-sized direct-current superconducting quantum interference device (dc-SQUID) in which the critical currents of each of the constriction-type Josephson junctions can be controlled independently and in situ via a process of nonequilibrium (hot-phonon) irradiation from a nanofabricated gated structure. The control mechanism is based on hot phonons which are injected into the superconducting microbridges from close proximity, but electrically isolated, normal-metal constrictions. We have also developed a one-dimensional computer model to analyze the behavior of micro-SQUID devices including situations in which we modify the asymmetry of the device. We show from the model that the experimental results are consistent with a change in effective length of the microbridge junctions with respect to the coherence length of the film. The experimental data, and its interpretation in relation to the micro-SQUID model, confirm that this technique, based on hot-phonon irradiation for controlling the critical current in Dayem bridge Josephson junctions, is compatible with the Josephson effect and a feasible method for post-fabrication parameter control in superconducting circuits using Dayem bridge Josephson junctions.

V. M. Akulin, N. V. Karlov