Decoherence in a pair of long-lived Cooper-pair boxes

Abstract

We have investigated the decoherence of quantum states in two Al/AlOx/Al Cooper-pair boxes coupled to lumped element superconducting inductor-capacitor resonators. At 25 mK, the first qubit had an energy relaxation time T1 that varied from 30 μs to 200 μs between 4 and 8 GHz and displayed an inverse correlation between T1 and the coupling to the microwave drive line. The Ramsey fringe decay times T2* were in the [200–500] ns range while the spin echo envelope decay times Techo varied from 2.4–3.3 μs, consistent with 1/f charge noise with a high frequency cutoff of 0.2 MHz. A second Cooper-pair box qubit with similar parameters showed T1=4−30 μs between 4 and 7.3 GHz, and that the T1 and the coupling were again inversely correlated. Although the lifetime of the second device was shorter than that of the first device, the dependence on coupling in both devices suggests that further reduction in coupling should lead to improved qubit performance.