Experiments on superconducting Josephson phase quantum bits

John L. Clarke, Frank K. Wilhelm

L. B. Ioffe, V. B. Geshkenbeǐn, Ch. Helm +1 more

We discuss a fundamental limitation for the coherent operation of superconducting quantum bits originating from phonon radiation generated in the Josephson junctions of the device. The time dependent superconducting phase across the junction produces an electric field that couples to the underlying crystal lattice via the piezoelectric effect. We determine the radiation resistance of the junction due to phonon emission and derive substantial decoherence rates for the quantum bits, which are compatible with quality factors measured in recent experiments.

Michel Devoret

John L. Clarke

Superconducting circuits containing Josephson junctions have previously been shown to exist in superpositions of states of electric charge and of superconducting phase. This superposition manifests itself in so-called Rabi oscillations between the two energy levels produced by the superposition. In his Perspective, Clarke highlights the report of Chiorescu et al. , who demonstrate that a superconducting ring containing three Josephson junctions also exhibits Rabi oscillations, and thus exists in a superposition of magnetic flux states. The experiments are elegant demonstrations of coherence in superconducting circuits, and are potentially of interest as quantum bits in a future computer.

Eisuke Abe, Shuhei Tamate

G. Blatter, V. B. Geshkenbeǐn, L. B. Ioffe

A superconducting-phase quantum bit (qubit) involves three or more Josephson junctions combined into a superconducting loop and defines one of the promising solid-state device implementations for quantum computing. Recently, so called $\ensuremath{\pi}$ junctions, Josephson junctions with a ground state characterized by a \ensuremath{\pi}-phase shift across, have attracted much attention. We show how to make use of such $\ensuremath{\pi}$ junctions in the construction of superconducting phase qubits and discuss the advantage over conventional designs based on magnetically frustrated loops. Starting from a basic five-junction loop with one $\ensuremath{\pi}$ junction, we show how to construct effective junctions with degenerate minima characterized by phase shifts 0 and $\ensuremath{\pi}$ and superconducting-phase switches. These elements are then combined into a superconducting-phase qubit which operates exclusively with switches, thus avoiding permanent contact with the environment through external biasing. The resulting superconducting-phase qubits can be understood as the macroscopic analog of the ``quiet'' s-wave--d-wave--s-wave Josephson-junction qubits introduced by Ioffe et al. [Nature (London) 398, 679 (1999)].