Improving qubit coherence using closed-loop feedback.

Superconducting qubits are a promising platform for building a larger-scale quantum processor capable of solving otherwise intractable problems. In order for the processor to reach practical viability, the gate errors need to be further suppressed and remain stable for extended periods of time. With recent advances in qubit control, both single- and two-qubit gate fidelities are now in many cases limited by the coherence times of the qubits. Here we experimentally employ closed-loop feedback to stabilize the frequency fluctuations of a superconducting transmon qubit, thereby increasing its coherence time by 26% and reducing the single-qubit error rate from (8.5 ± 2.1) × 10-4 to (5.9 ± 0.7) × 10-4. Importantly, the resulting high-fidelity operation remains effective even away from the qubit flux-noise insensitive point, significantly increasing the frequency bandwidth over which the qubit can be operated with high fidelity. This approach is helpful in large qubit grids, where frequency crowding and parasitic interactions between the qubits limit their performance.

Hexagonal boron nitride as a low-loss dielectric for superconducting quantum circuits and qubits.

Dielectrics with low loss at microwave frequencies are imperative for high-coherence solid-state quantum computing platforms. Here we study the dielectric loss of hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) thin films in the microwave regime by measuring the quality factor of parallel-plate capacitors (PPCs) made of NbSe2-hBN-NbSe2 heterostructures integrated into superconducting circuits. The extracted microwave loss tangent of hBN is bounded to be at most in the mid-10-6 range in the low-temperature, single-photon regime. We integrate hBN PPCs with aluminium Josephson junctions to realize transmon qubits with coherence times reaching 25 µs, consistent with the hBN loss tangent inferred from resonator measurements. The hBN PPC reduces the qubit feature size by approximately two orders of magnitude compared with conventional all-aluminium coplanar transmons. Our results establish hBN as a promising dielectric for building high-coherence quantum circuits with substantially reduced footprint and with a high energy participation that helps to reduce unwanted qubit cross-talk.

Multi-level quantum noise spectroscopy.

System noise identification is crucial to the engineering of robust quantum systems. Although existing quantum noise spectroscopy (QNS) protocols measure an aggregate amount of noise affecting a quantum system, they generally cannot distinguish between the underlying processes that contribute to it. Here, we propose and experimentally validate a spin-locking-based QNS protocol that exploits the multi-level energy structure of a superconducting qubit to achieve two notable advances. First, our protocol extends the spectral range of weakly anharmonic qubit spectrometers beyond the present limitations set by their lack of strong anharmonicity. Second, the additional information gained from probing the higher-excited levels enables us to identify and distinguish contributions from different underlying noise mechanisms.

Author Correction: Impact of ionizing radiation on superconducting qubit coherence.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Impact of ionizing radiation on superconducting qubit coherence.

Technologies that rely on quantum bits (qubits) require long coherence times and high-fidelity operations1. Superconducting qubits are one of the leading platforms for achieving these objectives2,3. However, the coherence of superconducting qubits is affected by the breaking of Cooper pairs of electrons4-6. The experimentally observed density of the broken Cooper pairs, referred to as quasiparticles, is orders of magnitude higher than the value predicted at equilibrium by the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer theory of superconductivity7-9. Previous work10-12 has shown that infrared photons considerably increase the quasiparticle density, yet even in the best-isolated systems, it remains much higher10 than expected, suggesting that another generation mechanism exists13. Here we provide evidence that ionizing radiation from environmental radioactive materials and cosmic rays contributes to this observed difference. The effect of ionizing radiation leads to an elevated quasiparticle density, which we predict would ultimately limit the coherence times of superconducting qubits of the type measured here to milliseconds. We further demonstrate that radiation shielding reduces the flux of ionizing radiation and thereby increases the energy-relaxation time. Albeit a small effect for today's qubits, reducing or mitigating the impact of ionizing radiation will be critical for realizing fault-tolerant superconducting quantum computers.