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IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity

Energy Relaxation Times in a Nb Persistent Current Qubit

Yang Yu, William D. Oliver, D. Nakada, J.C. Lee, Karl K. Berggren, Terry P. Orlando

Published Jun 1, 2005• 2 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We measured the energy relaxation time in a Nb superconducting persistent current qubit using a time-resolved fast measurement scheme. The energy relaxation time is longer than 10/spl mu/s, showing a strong potential of realizing quantum computation with Nb-based superconducting qubits.
DOI
10.1109/tasc.2005.850078

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Single-, two-, and three-photon transitions were driven amongst five quantum states of a niobium persistent-current qubit. A multi-level energy-band diagram was extracted using microwave spectroscopy, and avoided crossings were directly measured between the third and fourth excited states. The energy relaxation times between states connected by single-photon and multi-photon transitions were approximately 30 - 100 microseconds. Three-photon coherent oscillations were observed between the qubit ground and fourth excited states with a decoherence time of approximately 50 nanoseconds.
Niobium is a widely accepted material for quantum computing device as well as superconducting radio frequency (SRF) technology. Superconducting niobium is a marginal type II superconductor which has a very narrow gap (~20-30 mT) of the mixed state at 2K, even showing the intermediate state (IMS) at the early stage of magnetic vortex penetration. Tremendous progress has been made in understanding the impact of the Nb surface and bulk superconductivities on SRF resonator performance. However, the effect of thin superconducting Nb films for quantum computing applications requires further examination. In this study, we explore the fundamental superconducting properties of various thin Nb films and compare them with respect to the energy relaxation time, T1, measured from superconducting qubit fabricated with these films. The Nb films are fabricated both with or without a surface protective layer that prevents the formation of lossy Nb2O5. Electromagnetic properties are characterized by means of bulk magnetization, electromagnetic transport, and dynamics of surface superconductivity. In addition, analytical electron microscopy is implemented to further connect the superconducting properties to microstructure.
The superconducting quantum annealing circuit is constructed with four Nb layers and Josephson junctions with a critical current density of 1 μA/μm2. Three key points exist to perform the quantum annealing in experiments. First, the shape of the energy potential of the qubit should be accurately designed. Second, the current pulses for modulation of the shape of the energy potential must propagate to the qubit accurately. Third is the suppression of noise in the environment where the qubit is placed. Furthermore, calibration of the measurement data is necessary with consideration of the experimental environment. In this paper, I will present a mechanism for realizing quantum annealing from two perspectives: a theoretical model and an experiment. Experimental findings on quantum annealing will contribute to study of the surrounding circuit of a gate-type quantum computer.