Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

IEEE International Conference on Quantum Computing and Engineering (QCE)

Mixerless RFSoC Microwave Signal Generation for Superconducting Circuit Applications

R. Gartmann, Valentin Stumpert, Lukas Scheller, R.A. Weller, Luis Eduardo Ardila-Perez, Oliver Sander

Published Sep 15, 2024• 2 citations
Publisher

Abstract

In the realm of quantum computing and low-temperature detectors, precise signal conditioning is crucial for the effective readout and control of superconducting qubits and sensors. As these technologies evolve, the need for increasingly sophisticated and integrated systems becomes more apparent. This contribution presents the design of a mixer-less analog front-end board optimized for superconducting circuit interfacing. It leverages the capabilities of the Radio-Frequency System-on-Chip (RFSoC) from AMD Xilinx and utilizes software-selectable channel filtering stages, ultimately achieving wide-band signals without analog local oscillator leakage.

DOI
10.1109/qce60285.2024.10407

Related papers

Super Heterodyne Mixer Front-End Module for Qubit Readout and Manipulation

R. Gartmann, Oliver Krömer, R.A. Weller +3 more

Superconducting quantum circuit interfacing frequently entails working with multi-GHz radio frequency signals. The quickly evolving field relies on FPGA-based software-defined radio systems, providing the required flexible low-latency signal synthesis and analysis capabilities. Consequently, there are many custom hardware developments and upcoming commercial systems with proprietary interfaces. In contrast, this contribution presents a compact, platform-agnostic frequency conversion and level matching analogue front-end for 800 MHz vector signal generation, which expands the covered frequency band for any SMA connectorised system from baseband frequencies below 400 MHz to 4–10 GHz. It is in active use for quantum bit characterisation and for quantum sensor readout.

IEEE International Conference on Quantum Computing and Engineering (QCE)•Sep 15, 2024•3 citations

Design of Advanced Readout and System-on-Chip Analog Circuits for Quantum Chip

Salmanogli, Ahmad, Zandi, Hesam, Poshti, Mahdi Esmaeili Turan +3 more

In this work, we design an advanced quantum readout architecture that integrates a four qubit superconducting chip with a novel parametric amplifier ended with analog front-end circuit. Unlike conventional approaches, this design eliminates the need for components such as Purcell filters. Instead, a Josephson Parametric Amplifier is engineered to simultaneously perform quantum-limited signal amplification and suppress qubit energy leakage. The design features a tailored gain profile across C-band, with sharp peaks (24 dB) and troughs (0 dB), enabling qubit frequencies to align with gain minima and resonator frequencies with gain maxima.

arXiv:2506.16361•Jun 19, 2025•1 citation

RFSoC Gen3-Based Software-Defined Radio Characterization for the Readout System of Low-Temperature Bolometers

Manuel Elías García Redondo, Timo Muscheid, R. Gartmann +14 more

Abstract This work reports the performance evaluation of an SDR readout system based on the latest generation (Gen3) of AMD’s Radio-Frequency System-on-Chip (RFSoC) processing platform, which integrates a full-stack processing system and a powerful FPGA with up to 32 high-speed and high-resolution 14-bit Digital-to-Analog Converters and 14-bit Analog-to-Digital Converters. The proposed readout system uses a previously developed multi-band, double-conversion IQ RF-mixing board targeting a multiplexing factor of approximately 1000 bolometers in a bandwidth between 4 and 8 GHz, in line with state-of-the-art microwave SQUID multiplexers. The characterization of the system was performed in two stages, under the conditions typically imposed by the multiplexer and the cold readout circuit: first, in transmission, showing that noise and spurious levels of the generated tones are close to the values imposed by the cold readout, and second, in RF loopback, presenting noise values better than −100 dBc/Hz totally in agreement with the state-of-the-art readout systems. It was demonstrated that the RFSoC Gen3 device is a suitable enabling technology for the next generation of superconducting detector readout systems, reducing system complexity, increasing system integration, and achieving these goals without performance degradation.

Journal of Low Temperature Physics•Apr 12, 2024•6 citations

ICARUS-Q: Integrated control and readout unit for scalable quantum processors

Kun Hee Park, Yung Szen Yap, Yuanzheng Paul Tan +8 more

We present a control and measurement setup for superconducting qubits based on the Xilinx 16-channel radio-frequency system-on-chip (RFSoC) device. The proposed setup consists of four parts: multiple RFSoC boards, a setup to synchronize every digital to analog converter (DAC) and analog to digital converter (ADC) channel across multiple boards, a low-noise direct current supply for tuning the qubit frequency, and cloud access for remotely performing experiments. We also designed the setup to be free of physical mixers. The RFSoC boards directly generate microwave pulses using sixteen DAC channels up to the third Nyquist zone, which are directly sampled by its eight ADC channels between the fifth and the ninth zones.

arXiv:2112.02933•Review of Scientific Instruments•Oct 1, 2022•22 citations

Radio frequency mixing modules for superconducting qubit room temperature control systems

Yilun Xu, Gang Huang, David Santiago +1 more

As the number of qubits in nascent quantum processing units increases, the connectorized RF (radio frequency) analog circuits used in first generation experiments become exceedingly complex. The physical size, cost, and electrical failure rate all become limiting factors in the extensibility of control systems. We have developed a series of compact RF mixing boards to address this challenge by integrating I/Q quadrature mixing, intermediate frequency/LO (local oscillator)/RF power level adjustments, and direct current bias fine tuning on a 40 × 80 mm2 four-layer printed circuit board with electromagnetic interference shielding. The RF mixing module is designed to work with RF and LO frequencies between 2.5 and 8.5 GHz. The typical image rejection and adjacent channel isolation are measured to be ∼27 dBc and ∼50 dB. By scanning the drive phase in a loopback test, the module short-term amplitude and phase linearity are typically measured to be 5 ×10−4 (Vpp/Vmean) and 1 ×10−3 radian (pk–pk). The operation of the RF mixing board was validated by integrating it into the room temperature control system of a superconducting quantum processor and executing randomized benchmarking characterization of single and two qubit gates. We measured a single-qubit process infidelity of 9.3(3) × 10−4 and a two-qubit process infidelity of 2.7(1) × 10−2.

arXiv:2101.00066•Review of Scientific Instruments•Jul 1, 2021•8 citations

Radio frequency mixing modules for superconducting qubit room temperature control systems.

Yilun Xu, Gang Huang, David Santiago +1 more

As the number of qubits in nascent quantum processing units increases, the connectorized RF (radio frequency) analog circuits used in first generation experiments become exceedingly complex. The physical size, cost, and electrical failure rate all become limiting factors in the extensibility of control systems. We have developed a series of compact RF mixing boards to address this challenge by integrating I/Q quadrature mixing, intermediate frequency/LO (local oscillator)/RF power level adjustments, and direct current bias fine tuning on a 40 × 80 mm2 four-layer printed circuit board with electromagnetic interference shielding. The RF mixing module is designed to work with RF and LO frequencies between 2.5 and 8.5 GHz. The typical image rejection and adjacent channel isolation are measured to be ∼27 dBc and ∼50 dB. By scanning the drive phase in a loopback test, the module short-term amplitude and phase linearity are typically measured to be 5 ×10-4 (Vpp/Vmean) and 1 ×10-3 radian (pk-pk). The operation of the RF mixing board was validated by integrating it into the room temperature control system of a superconducting quantum processor and executing randomized benchmarking characterization of single and two qubit gates. We measured a single-qubit process infidelity of 9.3(3) × 10-4 and a two-qubit process infidelity of 2.7(1) × 10-2.

•Jul 1, 2021•8 citations
In the realm of quantum computing and low-temperature detectors, precise signal conditioning is crucial for the effective readout and control of superconducting qubits and sensors. As these technologies evolve, the need for increasingly sophisticated and integrated systems becomes more apparent. This contribution presents the design of a mixer-less analog front-end board optimized for superconducting circuit interfacing. It leverages the capabilities of the Radio-Frequency System-on-Chip (RFSoC) from AMD Xilinx and utilizes software-selectable channel filtering stages, ultimately achieving wide-band signals without analog local oscillator leakage.
Superconducting quantum circuit interfacing frequently entails working with multi-GHz radio frequency signals. The quickly evolving field relies on FPGA-based software-defined radio systems, providing the required flexible low-latency signal synthesis and analysis capabilities. Consequently, there are many custom hardware developments and upcoming commercial systems with proprietary interfaces. In contrast, this contribution presents a compact, platform-agnostic frequency conversion and level matching analogue front-end for 800 MHz vector signal generation, which expands the covered frequency band for any SMA connectorised system from baseband frequencies below 400 MHz to 4–10 GHz. It is in active use for quantum bit characterisation and for quantum sensor readout.
In this work, we design an advanced quantum readout architecture that integrates a four qubit superconducting chip with a novel parametric amplifier ended with analog front-end circuit. Unlike conventional approaches, this design eliminates the need for components such as Purcell filters. Instead, a Josephson Parametric Amplifier is engineered to simultaneously perform quantum-limited signal amplification and suppress qubit energy leakage. The design features a tailored gain profile across C-band, with sharp peaks (24 dB) and troughs (0 dB), enabling qubit frequencies to align with gain minima and resonator frequencies with gain maxima.
Abstract This work reports the performance evaluation of an SDR readout system based on the latest generation (Gen3) of AMD’s Radio-Frequency System-on-Chip (RFSoC) processing platform, which integrates a full-stack processing system and a powerful FPGA with up to 32 high-speed and high-resolution 14-bit Digital-to-Analog Converters and 14-bit Analog-to-Digital Converters. The proposed readout system uses a previously developed multi-band, double-conversion IQ RF-mixing board targeting a multiplexing factor of approximately 1000 bolometers in a bandwidth between 4 and 8 GHz, in line with state-of-the-art microwave SQUID multiplexers. The characterization of the system was performed in two stages, under the conditions typically imposed by the multiplexer and the cold readout circuit: first, in transmission, showing that noise and spurious levels of the generated tones are close to the values imposed by the cold readout, and second, in RF loopback, presenting noise values better than −100 dBc/Hz totally in agreement with the state-of-the-art readout systems. It was demonstrated that the RFSoC Gen3 device is a suitable enabling technology for the next generation of superconducting detector readout systems, reducing system complexity, increasing system integration, and achieving these goals without performance degradation.
We present a control and measurement setup for superconducting qubits based on the Xilinx 16-channel radio-frequency system-on-chip (RFSoC) device. The proposed setup consists of four parts: multiple RFSoC boards, a setup to synchronize every digital to analog converter (DAC) and analog to digital converter (ADC) channel across multiple boards, a low-noise direct current supply for tuning the qubit frequency, and cloud access for remotely performing experiments. We also designed the setup to be free of physical mixers. The RFSoC boards directly generate microwave pulses using sixteen DAC channels up to the third Nyquist zone, which are directly sampled by its eight ADC channels between the fifth and the ninth zones.
As the number of qubits in nascent quantum processing units increases, the connectorized RF (radio frequency) analog circuits used in first generation experiments become exceedingly complex. The physical size, cost, and electrical failure rate all become limiting factors in the extensibility of control systems. We have developed a series of compact RF mixing boards to address this challenge by integrating I/Q quadrature mixing, intermediate frequency/LO (local oscillator)/RF power level adjustments, and direct current bias fine tuning on a 40 × 80 mm2 four-layer printed circuit board with electromagnetic interference shielding. The RF mixing module is designed to work with RF and LO frequencies between 2.5 and 8.5 GHz. The typical image rejection and adjacent channel isolation are measured to be ∼27 dBc and ∼50 dB. By scanning the drive phase in a loopback test, the module short-term amplitude and phase linearity are typically measured to be 5 ×10−4 (Vpp/Vmean) and 1 ×10−3 radian (pk–pk). The operation of the RF mixing board was validated by integrating it into the room temperature control system of a superconducting quantum processor and executing randomized benchmarking characterization of single and two qubit gates. We measured a single-qubit process infidelity of 9.3(3) × 10−4 and a two-qubit process infidelity of 2.7(1) × 10−2.
As the number of qubits in nascent quantum processing units increases, the connectorized RF (radio frequency) analog circuits used in first generation experiments become exceedingly complex. The physical size, cost, and electrical failure rate all become limiting factors in the extensibility of control systems. We have developed a series of compact RF mixing boards to address this challenge by integrating I/Q quadrature mixing, intermediate frequency/LO (local oscillator)/RF power level adjustments, and direct current bias fine tuning on a 40 × 80 mm2 four-layer printed circuit board with electromagnetic interference shielding. The RF mixing module is designed to work with RF and LO frequencies between 2.5 and 8.5 GHz. The typical image rejection and adjacent channel isolation are measured to be ∼27 dBc and ∼50 dB. By scanning the drive phase in a loopback test, the module short-term amplitude and phase linearity are typically measured to be 5 ×10-4 (Vpp/Vmean) and 1 ×10-3 radian (pk-pk). The operation of the RF mixing board was validated by integrating it into the room temperature control system of a superconducting quantum processor and executing randomized benchmarking characterization of single and two qubit gates. We measured a single-qubit process infidelity of 9.3(3) × 10-4 and a two-qubit process infidelity of 2.7(1) × 10-2.