Currently, superconducting qubit processors are bottlenecked by errors during two-qubit gates, readout, and idle time. All three error contributions could be reduced if we improved the speed of operations (without introducing additional leakage errors) compared to the qubit lifetime. Readout and two-qubit gates are multimode interactions and therefore are limited by the coupling strength between the modes. In this thesis, we introduce a two-mode superconducting qubit which uses one mode to facilitate strong coupling to other modes of the quantum processor and one mode to store data with high coherence. Simulations show that this architecture could enable order-of-magnitude reductions in error during readout and two-qubit gates.
Currently, superconducting qubit processors are bottlenecked by errors during two-qubit gates, readout, and idle time. All three error contributions could be reduced if we improved the speed of operations (without introducing additional leakage errors) compared to the qubit lifetime. Readout and two-qubit gates are multimode interactions and therefore are limited by the coupling strength between the modes. In this thesis, we introduce a two-mode superconducting qubit which uses one mode to facilitate strong coupling to other modes of the quantum processor and one mode to store data with high coherence. Simulations show that this architecture could enable order-of-magnitude reductions in error during readout and two-qubit gates.
We present a superconducting qubit which consists of two strongly coupled modes: one for data storage and one for coupling, allowing faster, higher-fidelity entangling gates and readout. The use of a dedicated coupling mode allows nonlinear couplings of several hundred MHz between the data mode and other elements, with minimal linear coupling to the data mode. Including decoherence, simulations show that this architecture enables microwave-only CZ gates with an infidelity of 8.6×10−5 in 17 ns and always-on ZZ interaction less than 0.4 kHz. Numerical simulations also show readout with state assignment error of 1×10−4 in 27 ns (assuming quantum efficiency η=0.5), Purcell-limited lifetime of 167 ms without a Purcell filter, and a mechanism to suppress shot-noise dephasing (1/Γϕ=15.8 ms). Single-qubit gate infidelities are below 1×10−5 including decoherence. These beyond experimental state-of-the-art gate and readout fidelities rely only on capacitive coupling between arm qubits, making the arm qubit a promising scalable building block for fault-tolerant quantum computers.
To scale superconducting quantum processors, it is essential to achieve long coherence times while engineering interactions that do not introduce additional decoherence channels. In superconducting qubit systems, this can be realized using multimode circuits that feature a protected qubit mode alongside a distinct mediator mode. Building on this concept, our recently developed P-mon qubit provides intrinsic protection against decoherence from the readout environment. We extend this approach to controlled two-qubit interactions, by exploiting the mediator modes of P-mons for on-demand coupling. Because direct interactions between the qubit modes are strongly suppressed, unwanted ZZ-type interactions are significantly reduced to below 3.6(5)kHz in the idle state. When tuning the coupled mediator modes on resonance, the cross-Kerr interaction between the qubit and the hybridized mediator modes leads to a qubit-state dependent frequency shift. By selectively addressing these transitions, we implement a 180ns long CZ gate and determine a fidelity of $99.62(4)~\text{%}$. These results represent a significant step toward a scalable superconducting architecture that maintains high performance at scale.
Despite the significant progress in superconducting quantum computation over the past years, quantum state measurement still lags nearly an order of magnitude behind quantum gate operations in speed and fidelity. The main challenge is that the strong coupling and readout signal used to probe the quantum state may also introduce additional channels which may cause qubit state transitions. Here, we design a novel architecture to implement the long-sought longitudinal interaction scheme between qubits and resonators. This architecture not only provides genuine longitudinal interaction by eliminating residual transversal couplings, but also introduces proper nonlinearity to the resonator that can further minimize decay error and measurement-induced excitation error. Combined with the multilevel readout protocol, we achieved a measurement fidelity of 99.8% in 202 ns without requiring any first-stage amplification. This highlights its potential as a highly promising architecture for superconducting qubit measurement.
The realization of fault-tolerant quantum computing requires the execution of quantum error-correction (QEC) schemes, to mitigate the fragile nature of qubits. In this context, to ensure the success of QEC, a protocol capable of implementing both qubit reset and leakage reduction is highly desirable together with the ability to perform fast and high-fidelity readout of the qubit s’ quantum states. In this thesis, we tackle both these challenges in an architecture consisting of fixed-frequency transmon qubits pair-wise coupled via tunable couplers. We demonstrate a readout scheme that combines two microwave techniques: applying a shelving technique to the qubits that reduces the contribution of decay error during readout, and a two-tone excitation of the readout resonators to distinguish among qubits’ populations in higher energy levels. We perform single-shot frequency-multiplexed qubit readout, with a 140 ns readout time, and demonstrate 99.5% assignment fidelity for two-state readout and 96.9% for three-state readout - without using a quantum-limited amplifier. We also demonstrate a reset scheme that is fast, unconditional, and achieves fidelities well above 99%, thus enabling fixed-frequency qubit architectures as future implementations of fault-tolerant quantum computers. Our reset protocol uses the tunable couplers to transfer any undesired qubits’ excitation to the readout resonators of the qubits, from which this excitation decays into the feedline. In total, the combination of qubit reset, leakage reduction, and coupler reset takes only 83 ns to complete. This reset protocol also provides a means to both reduce QEC cycle runtime and improve algorithmic fidelity on quantum processors.
Quantum error correction imposes stringent requirements on the underlying hardware: all core operations of a quantum processor – single-qubit gates, two-qubit entangling gates, qubit readout, and qubit reset – must operate well below the error thresholds of leading codes. While such thresholds have already been crossed in several platforms, the associated overhead in physical qubits and circuit depth remains extremely sensitive to the physical error rate. This thesis investigates how far a superconducting platform based on transmon qubits can be pushed toward its physical limits, and how architectural and control choices can be optimized to reduce the overhead required for fault-tolerant quantum computation. First, we develop and characterize tunable-coupler architectures that enable fast, high-fidelity controlled-Z (CZ) gates. A long-distance coupler increases the qubit-qubit separation, freeing chip area for additional on-chip components, while still achieving CZ fidelities above 99.8%. Building on this, we optimize the qubit-coupler coupling to simultaneously support high-performance single- and two-qubit gates. We achieve simultaneous single- and two-qubit gate fidelities exceeding 99.9% on the same chip using a CZ calibration experiment based on our phase-averaged leakage error amplification (PALEA) protocol. PALEA coherently amplifies small over- and under-rotations of the diabatic CZ gate, making calibration errors easier to detect and correct. Second, we address single-qubit gates. Using spectrally engineered FAST-DRAG and higherderivative DRAG pulses, we demonstrate sub-8 ns gates with errors of order 10!" and strongly suppressed leakage. Third, we address readout by combining shelving to a higher qubit level with Purcell-filtered resonators and quantum-limited amplification, achieving readout errors below 10!#. Beyond the transmon workhorse, we explore the unimon qubit, which combines large anharmonicity with reduced charge sensitivity, and investigate a quantum circuit refrigerator as an integrated resource for fast, unconditional qubit reset via engineered dissipation. Finally, we demonstrate a cryogenic microwave link between two dilution refrigerators, enabling remote state transfer and entanglement over a five-meter distance and illustrating a path toward modular and distributed superconducting quantum processors. Together, these results show that with careful co-design of device layout, coupling topology, pulse shaping, and calibration protocols, all core operations – except qubit reset – of a superconducting quantum processor can be operated in the 10!#–10!" error regime within a coherent hardware and control stack, substantially lowering the resource overhead required for future fault-tolerant architectures.
Efficient qubit reset and leakage reduction are essential for scalable superconducting quantum computing, particularly in the context of quantum error correction. However, such operations often require additional on-chip components. Here, we propose and experimentally demonstrate a hardware-efficient approach to qubit reset and readout using a multi-mode Purcell filter in a superconducting quantum circuit. We exploit the inherent multi-mode structure of a coplanar waveguide resonator, using its fundamental and second-order modes for qubit reset and readout, respectively, thereby avoiding additional components. Implemented in a flip-chip architecture, our device achieves unconditional reset with residual excitation below 1\% in 220 ns, and a leakage reduction unit that selectively resets the second excited state within 62 ns with a residual ∣f⟩ population of 6.1\%, accounting for the readout error. Despite the qubits being directly coupled to the filter in our configuration, the measured relaxation times are not degraded owing to intrinsic Purcell protection provided by an auxiliary mode. To our knowledge, this is the first experimental trial that exploits different-order modes of a microwave resonator for distinct qubit operations, representing a new direction toward scalable, hardware-efficient quantum processor design.