Superconducting qubits show promise

Kouichi Semba

Daniel Manzano

Quantum computing is a promising field regarding computation capabilities for several important tasks. One of the most promising solid-state quantum technology, which is being developed at Qutech (TU Delft), is superconducting qubits. In superconducting quantum processors, qubits are arranged along a 2D grid that only permits information transmission between adjacent qubits. In order to run a quantum algorithm on such a processor a mapping strategy of scheduling-placement-routing is needed.

Cheeranjeev Purmessur, Edmond K. C. Chow, Bernard van Heck +1 more

Aluminum-based Josephson junctions are currently the main sources of nonlinearity for control and manipulation of superconducting qubits. A constriction-based junction provides an alternative source of nonlinearity that promises new types of protected qubits and the possibility of high-temperature and high-frequency operation through the use of superconductors with larger energy gaps. Junctions made from such superconductors have been challenging to incorporate into superconducting qubits because of difficulty controlling junction parameters and have had extremely low lifetimes, which limited their utility. Here we demonstrate that junctions made using titanium nitride (TiN) are a promising and controllable qubit platform. We use TiN junctions to build superconducting qubits based on quantum phase slips through the junction. We operate the qubit at zero flux where the qubit frequency ( ~ 17GHz) is mainly determined by the inductance of the qubit. We perform readout and coherent control of the superconducting qubit, and measure qubit lifetimes >60μs. Finally, we demonstrate operation of the qubit at temperatures exceeding 300 mK. Our results add the TiN-based junction as a tool for superconducting quantum information processing and opens avenues for new classes of superconducting qubits. Superconducting constrictions are an alternative source of nonlinearity to Al-based Josephson junctions, enabling new functionalities for qubits. Here, the authors demonstrate a high-frequency superconducting qubit in a single TiN thin film, based on coherent quantum phase slip tunneling through a constriction.

Frank K. Wilhelm

Feng Bao, Hao Deng, Dawei Ding +25 more

Superconducting qubits provide a promising path toward building large-scale quantum computers. The simple and robust transmon qubit has been the leading platform, achieving multiple milestones. However, fault-tolerant quantum computing calls for qubit operations at error rates significantly lower than those exhibited in the state of the art. Consequently, alternative superconducting qubits with better error protection have attracted increasing interest. Among them, fluxonium is a particularly promising candidate, featuring large anharmonicity and long coherence times. Here, we engineer a fluxonium-based quantum processor that integrates high qubit coherence, fast frequency tunability, and individual-qubit addressability for reset, readout, and gates. With simple and fast gate schemes, we achieve an average single-qubit gate fidelity of 99.97% and a two-qubit gate fidelity of up to 99.72%. This performance is comparable to the highest values reported in the literature of superconducting circuits. Thus our work, within the realm of superconducting qubits, reveals an alternative qubit platform that is competitive with the transmon system.

Irfan A. Siddiqi