Qubit Readout Research Articles

Deterministic measurement of a Rydberg superatom qubit via cavity-enhanced single-photon emission

With Rydberg dipole interactions, a mesoscopic atomic ensemble becomes a superatom that behaves like a single atom but couples collectively with photons. It is potentially a strong candidate as a qubit in quantum information science, especially for quantum networks. In this paper, we report a cavity-enhanced single-photon interface for a Rydberg superatom and demonstrate deterministic qubit readout via a photon burst. We make use of a low-finesse ring cavity to enhance the atom–photon interaction and obtain in-fiber single-photon generation efficiency of 44%. Harnessing the dipole interaction between two Rydberg levels, we may create either a sequence of multiple single photons or nothing, conditioned on an initial qubit state. We achieve a measurement fidelity of 93.0% in 4.8 µs. Our work complements the experimental toolbox of harnessing Rydberg superatoms for quantum information applications.

Harnessing many-body spin environment for long coherence storage and high-fidelity single-shot qubit readout

There is a growing interest in hybrid solid-state quantum systems where nuclear spins, interfaced to the electron spin qubit, are used as quantum memory or qubit register. These approaches require long nuclear spin coherence, which until now seemed impossible owing to the disruptive effect of the electron spin. Here we study InGaAs semiconductor quantum dots, demonstrating millisecond-long collective nuclear spin coherence even under inhomogeneous coupling to the electron central spin. We show that the underlying decoherence mechanism is spectral diffusion induced by a fluctuating electron spin. These results provide new understanding of the many-body coherence in central spin systems, required for development of electron-nuclear spin qubits. As a demonstration, we implement a conditional gate that encodes electron spin state onto collective nuclear spin coherence, and use it for a single-shot readout of the electron spin qubit with >99% fidelity.

Ancilla-free implementation of generalized measurements for qubits embedded in a qudit space

Informationally complete (IC) positive operator-valued measures (POVMs) are generalized quantum measurements that offer advantages over the standard computational basis readout of qubits. For instance, IC-POVMs enable efficient extraction of operator expectation values, a crucial step in many quantum algorithms. POVM measurements are typically implemented by coupling one additional ancilla qubit to each logical qubit, thus imposing high demands on the device size and connectivity. Here, we show how to implement a general class of IC-POVMs without ancilla qubits. We exploit the higher-dimensional Hilbert space of a qudit in which qubits are often encoded. POVMs can then be realized by coupling each qubit to two of the available qudit states, followed by a projective measurement. We develop the required control pulse sequences and numerically establish their feasibility for superconducting transmon qubits through pulse-level simulations. Finally, we present an experimental demonstration of a qudit-space POVM measurement on IBM Quantum hardware. This paves the way to making POVM measurements broadly available to quantum computing applications.

Complete Physical Characterization of Quantum Nondemolition Measurements via Tomography.

We introduce a self-consistent tomography for arbitrary quantum nondemolition (QND) detectors. Based on this, we build a complete physical characterization of the detector, including the measurement processes and a quantification of the fidelity, ideality, and backaction of the measurement. This framework is a diagnostic tool for the dynamics of QND detectors, allowing us to identify errors, and to improve their calibration and design. We illustrate this on a realistic Jaynes-Cummings simulation of a superconducting qubit readout. We characterize nondispersive errors, quantify the backaction introduced by the readout cavity, and calibrate the optimal measurement point.

Cryo-CMOS design-technology co-optimization of low noise amplifier for silicon qubit readout

Design-technology co-optimization (DTCO) for the low noise amplifier (LNA) in quantum computing peripheral circuit is explored. Using the 22 nm fully-depleted‑silicon-on- insulator (FDSOI) transistor model that was calibrated at 4 K, the LNA at 5–6 GHz for silicon qubit readout was designed and further optimized with transistor threshold voltage (Vth) engineering. This study first provides insights into the design knobs to achieve the desired radio frequency (RF) circuit performance at cryogenic temperature when designing the circuit baseline using the off-the-shelf room temperature model provided by the foundry. Furthermore, the Vth engineering is proposed to optimize the transistor characteristics specifically for the deep-cryogenic operation. 36% power reduction in the LNA design is achieved compared to that uses the off-the-shelf technology, which is highly desired to minimize the refrigerator cooling cost at 4 K.

Scalable Cryoelectronics for Superconducting Qubit Control and Readout

Quantum computing promises an exponentially higher computational power than classical computers; although all the building blocks have become available, certain constraints still prevent quantum advantage. The fundamental challenge in building a practical quantum computer is integrating thousands of highly coherent qubits with the control and readout electronics. The need for a high‐coherence qubit drives the effort for quantum error correction algorithms to create fault‐tolerant quantum systems. Error correction becomes tangible in a quantum processor only in large numbers of qubits. Thus, the other challenge is reducing the number of physical interconnects (coaxial lines) between the quantum–classical interface and bulky room‐temperature electronics. To interface thousands of qubits, interconnects can be reduced by bringing the control and readout electronics near the quantum processor. Cryogenic complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) technology has been an ideal candidate for this purpose. Integrated control and readout at cryogenic temperatures require low power dissipation circuit designs and techniques such as frequency‐division multiplexing (FDM) due to the finite cooling power of a dilution refrigerator. Herein, an overview of each building block in a superconducting quantum computer is provided, focusing on scalability. Furthermore, this article is concluded with an outlook discussing current challenges and future directions for the scalable superconducting control and readout.

Qubit teleportation between non-neighbouring nodes in a quantum network

Future quantum internet applications will derive their power from the ability to share quantum information across the network1,2. Quantum teleportation allows for the reliable transfer of quantum information between distant nodes, even in the presence of highly lossy network connections3. Although many experimental demonstrations have been performed on different quantum network platforms4–10, moving beyond directly connected nodes has, so far, been hindered by the demanding requirements on the pre-shared remote entanglement, joint qubit readout and coherence times. Here we realize quantum teleportation between remote, non-neighbouring nodes in a quantum network. The network uses three optically connected nodes based on solid-state spin qubits. The teleporter is prepared by establishing remote entanglement on the two links, followed by entanglement swapping on the middle node and storage in a memory qubit. We demonstrate that, once successful preparation of the teleporter is heralded, arbitrary qubit states can be teleported with fidelity above the classical bound, even with unit efficiency. These results are enabled by key innovations in the qubit readout procedure, active memory qubit protection during entanglement generation and tailored heralding that reduces remote entanglement infidelities. Our work demonstrates a prime building block for future quantum networks and opens the door to exploring teleportation-based multi-node protocols and applications2,11–13.

Universal Gate Operations on Nuclear Spin Qubits in an Optical Tweezer Array of Yb171 Atoms

Neutral atom arrays are a rapidly developing platform for quantum science. In this work, we demonstrate a universal set of quantum gate operations on a new type of neutral atom qubit: a nuclear spin in an alkaline earth-like atom (AEA), $^{171}$Yb. We present techniques for cooling, trapping and imaging using a newly discovered magic trapping wavelength at $\lambda = 486.78$ nm. We implement qubit initialization, readout, and single-qubit gates, and observe long qubit lifetimes, $T_1 \approx 20$ s and $T^*_2 = 1.24(5)$ s, and a single-qubit operation fidelity $\mathcal{F}_{1Q} = 0.99959(6)$. We also demonstrate two-qubit entangling gates using the Rydberg blockade, as well as coherent control of these gate operations using light shifts on the Yb$^+$ ion core transition at 369 nm. These results are a significant step towards highly coherent quantum gates in AEA tweezer arrays.

Quantum transport through a quantum dot side-coupled to a Majorana bound state pair in the presence of electron-phonon interaction

We theoretically study quantum transport through a quantum dot coupled to Majorana bound states confined at the ends of a topological superconducting nanowire. The topological superconductor forms a loop and is threaded by a tunable magnetic flux, which allows one to control the electron transport in the system. In particular, we investigate phonon-assisted transport properties in the device when the central quantum dot interacts with a single long-wave optical phonon mode. We find that when the two Majorana bound states are unhybridized, the zero-temperature linear conductance has a $2\pi$ periodicity as a function of magnetic flux phase, independent of the electron-phonon interaction, the quantum dot energy, or the finite values of dot-Majorana couplings. For a finite overlap between the Majorana bound states, the linear conductance periodicity generally changes to $4\pi$ either due to a finite electron-phonon coupling strength, or a dot energy level that is tuned away from the Fermi level. Additionally, the differential conductance periodicity changes from $2\pi$ to $4\pi$ when the Majorana bound states hybridize and the electron-phonon coupling is finite. Our results provide insight into transport signatures expected in topological quantum computational platforms that integrate quantum dots as a means for Majorana qubit readout. The energy exchange with an environmental bath, here a single phonon mode, significantly alters the current signatures expected from Majorana modes.

Fluorescence spectrum and charge state control of divacancy qubits via illumination at elevated temperatures in 4H silicon carbide

Divacancy in its neutral charge state (${\mathrm{V}}_{\text{C}}{\mathrm{V}}_{\text{Si}}^{0}$) in 4H silicon carbide (SiC) is a leading quantum bit (qubit) contender. Owing to the lattice structure of 4H SiC, four different ${\mathrm{V}}_{\text{C}}{\mathrm{V}}_{\text{Si}}$ configurations can be formed. The ground and the optically accessible excited states of ${\mathrm{V}}_{\text{C}}{\mathrm{V}}_{\text{Si}}^{0}$ configurations exhibit a high-spin state, and the corresponding optical transition energies are around $\ensuremath{\approx}1.1\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}\mathrm{eV}$ falling in the near-infrared wavelength region. Recently, photoluminescence (PL) quenching has been experimentally observed for all ${\mathrm{V}}_{\text{C}}{\mathrm{V}}_{\text{Si}}$ configurations in 4H SiC at cryogenic temperatures. It has been shown that ${\mathrm{V}}_{\text{C}}{\mathrm{V}}_{\text{Si}}^{0}$ is converted to ${\mathrm{V}}_{\text{C}}{\mathrm{V}}_{\text{Si}}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ and it remains in this shelving dark state at cryogenic temperatures until photoexcitation with the threshold energies or above is applied to convert ${\mathrm{V}}_{\text{C}}{\mathrm{V}}_{\text{Si}}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ back to ${\mathrm{V}}_{\text{C}}{\mathrm{V}}_{\text{Si}}^{0}$. In this study, we demonstrate both in experiments and theory that the threshold energy for reionization is temperature dependent. We carry out density functional theory (DFT) calculations in order to investigate the temperature dependent reionization spectrum, i.e., the spectrum of the ${\mathrm{V}}_{\text{C}}{\mathrm{V}}_{\text{Si}}^{\ensuremath{-}}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\phantom{\rule{4pt}{0ex}}{\mathrm{V}}_{\text{C}}{\mathrm{V}}_{\text{Si}}^{0}$ process. We find that simultaneous optical reionization and qubit manipulation can be carried out at room temperature with photoexcitation at the typical excitation wavelength used for readout of the divacancy qubits in 4H SiC, in agreement with our experimental data. We also provide the analysis of the PL spectrum of ${\mathrm{V}}_{\text{C}}{\mathrm{V}}_{\text{Si}}^{0}$, characteristic for each ${\mathrm{V}}_{\text{C}}{\mathrm{V}}_{\text{Si}}^{0}$ configuration in 4H SiC, using the Huang-Rhys theory, and find that one configuration in 4H SiC stands out in terms of the strength of coherent emission among the four configurations.

Digital Control of a Superconducting Qubit Using a Josephson Pulse Generator at 3 K.

Scaling of quantum computers to fault-tolerant levels relies critically on the integration of energy-efficient, stable, and reproducible qubit control and readout electronics. In comparison to traditional semiconductor-control electronics (TSCE) located at room temperature, the signals generated by rf sources based on Josephson-junctions (JJs) benefit from small device sizes, low power dissipation, intrinsic calibration, superior reproducibility, and insensitivity to ambient fluctuations. Previous experiments to colocate qubits and JJ-based control electronics have resulted in quasiparticle poisoning of the qubit, degrading the coherence and lifetime of the qubit. In this paper, we digitally control a 0.01-K transmon qubit with pulses from a Josephson pulse generator (JPG) located at the 3-K stage of a dilution refrigerator. We directly compare the qubit lifetime T 1, the coherence time , and the thermal occupation P th when the qubit is controlled by the JPG circuit versus the TSCE setup. We find agreement to within the daily fluctuations of ±0.5 μs and ±2 μs for T 1 and , respectively, and agreement to within the 1% error for P th. Additionally, we perform randomized benchmarking to measure an average JPG gate error of 2.1 × 10-2. In combination with a small device size (< 25 mm2) and low on-chip power dissipation (≪100 μW), these results are an important step toward demonstrating the viability of using JJ-based control electronics located at temperature stages higher than the mixing-chamber stage in highly scaled superconducting quantum information systems.

Experimental Bayesian estimation of quantum state preparation, measurement, and gate errors in multiqubit devices

We introduce a Bayesian method for the estimation of single qubit errors in quantum devices, and use it to characterize these errors on three 27-qubit superconducting qubit devices. We self-consistently estimate up to seven parameters of each qubit's state preparation, readout, and gate errors, analyze the stability of these errors as a function of time, and demonstrate easily implemented approaches for mitigating different errors before a quantum computation experiment. On the investigated devices we find non-negligible qubit reset errors that cannot be parametrized as a diagonal mixed state, but manifest as a coherent phase of a superposition with a small contribution from the qubit's excited state. We are able to mitigate such errors by applying pre-rotations on the initialized qubits, which we demonstrate with multi-qubit entangled states. Our results demonstrate that Bayesian estimation can resolve small parameters - including those pertaining to quantum gate errors - with a high relative accuracy, at a lower measurement cost as compared with standard characterization approaches.

Deep-Neural-Network Discrimination of Multiplexed Superconducting-Qubit States

Demonstrating a quantum computational advantage will require high-fidelity control and readout of multiqubit systems. As system size increases, multiplexed qubit readout becomes a practical necessity to limit the growth of resource overhead. Many contemporary qubit-state discriminators presume single-qubit operating conditions or require considerable computational effort, limiting their potential extensibility. Here, we present multiqubit readout using neural networks as state discriminators. We compare our approach to contemporary methods employed on a quantum device with five superconducting qubits and frequency-multiplexed readout. We find that fully connected feedforward neural networks increase the qubit-state-assignment fidelity for our system. Relative to contemporary discriminators, the assignment error rate is reduced by up to 25% due to the compensation of system-dependent nonidealities such as readout crosstalk, which is reduced by up to one order of magnitude. Our work demonstrates a potentially extensible building block for high-fidelity readout relevant to both near-term devices and future fault-tolerant systems.

Direct detection of spin polarization in photoinduced charge transfer through a chiral bridge.

It is well assessed that the charge transport through a chiral potential barrier can result in spin-polarized charges. The possibility of driving this process through visible photons holds tremendous potential for several aspects of quantum information science, e.g., the optical control and readout of qubits. In this context, the direct observation of this phenomenon via spin-sensitive spectroscopies is of utmost importance to establish future guidelines to control photo-driven spin selectivity in chiral structures. Here, we provide direct proof that time-resolved electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) can be used to detect long-lived spin polarization generated by photoinduced charge transfer through a chiral bridge. We propose a system comprising CdSe quantum dots (QDs), as a donor, and C60, as an acceptor, covalently linked through a saturated oligopeptide helical bridge (χ) with a rigid structure of ∼10 Å. Time-resolved EPR spectroscopy shows that the charge transfer in our system results in a C60 radical anion, whose spin polarization maximum is observed at longer times with respect to that of the photogenerated C60 triplet state. Notably, the theoretical modelling of the EPR spectra reveals that the observed features may be compatible with chirality-induced spin selectivity, but the electronic features of the QD do not allow the unambiguous identification of the CISS effect. Nevertheless, we identify which parameters need optimization for unambiguous detection and quantification of the phenomenon. This work lays the basis for the optical generation and direct manipulation of spin polarization induced by chirality.

High-Fidelity Qubit Readout Using Interferometric Directional Josephson Devices

Nonreciprocal microwave devices, such as circulators and isolators, are needed in high-fidelity qubit readout schemes to unidirectionally route the readout signals and protect the qubits against noise coming from the output chain. However, cryogenic circulators and isolators are prohibitive in scalable superconducting architectures because they rely on magnetic materials. Here, we perform a fast (750 ns) high-fidelity (95%) quantum nondemolition readout of a coherent superconducting qubit ($T_{1}=52$ $\mu s$, $T_{\rm{2E}}=35$ $\mu s$) without any nonreciprocal magnetic devices. We employ in our readout chain a microwave-controlled qubit-Readout Multi-Chip Module (qRMCM) that integrates interferometric directional Josephson devices consisting of an isolator and a reconfigurable isolator/amplifier device and an off-chip low-pass filter. Using the qRMCM, we demonstrate isolation up to 45 dB within 13 MHz, when both directional devices are operated as isolators, and low-noise amplification in excess of 10 dB within a dynamical bandwidth of $10$ MHz, when the reconfigurable device is operated as an amplifier. We also demonstrate using the variable isolation of the qRMCM an in-situ enhancement of the qubit coherence times $T_{\rm{\varphi}}$ and $T_{\rm{2E}}$ by two orders of magnitude (i.e., from $T_{\rm{\varphi}}=T_{\rm{2E}}=0.5$ $\mu s$ to $T_{\rm{\varphi}}=90$ $\mu s$ and $T_{\rm{2E}}=50$ $\mu s$). Furthermore, by directly comparing the qRMCM performance to a state-of-art configuration (with $T_{\rm{2E}}\approx 2T_{1}$) that employs a pair of wideband magnetic isolators, we find that the excess pure dephasing measured with the qRMCM (for which $T_{\rm{2E}}\approx T_{1}$) is likely limited by residual thermal photon population in the readout resonator. Improved versions of the qRMCM could replace magnetic circulators and isolators in large superconducting quantum processors.

Qubit readout error mitigation with bit-flip averaging.

Quantum computers are becoming increasingly accessible and may soon outperform classical computers for useful tasks. However, qubit readout errors remain a substantial hurdle to running quantum algorithms on current devices. We present a scheme to more efficiently mitigate these errors on quantum hardware and numerically show that our method consistently gives advantage over previous mitigation schemes. Our scheme removes biases in the readout errors, allowing a general error model to be built with far fewer calibration measurements. Specifically, for reading out n-qubits, we show a factor of 2n reduction in the number of calibration measurements without sacrificing the ability to compensate for correlated errors. Our approach can be combined with, and simplify, other mitigation methods, allowing tractable mitigation even for large numbers of qubits.

A Fully Integrated Cryo-CMOS SoC for State Manipulation, Readout, and High-Speed Gate Pulsing of Spin Qubits

This article presents a fully integrated Cryo-CMOS system on chip (SoC) for quantum computing. The proposed SoC integrates a radio frequency (RF) pulse modulator for qubit state manipulation, a multi-tone signal generator and a coherent receiver for qubit state readout, and 22 DACs for high-speed voltage pulsing of qubit gates. By adopting frequency division multiplexing and direct digital synthesis (DDS), the RF pulse modulator can control up to 16 qubits over a single RF line, and the readout receiver can detect the state of up to six qubits simultaneously. The proposed SoC also integrates a microcontroller for low latency on-chip signal processing and increased flexibility in implementing quantum instruction sets. A detailed analysis of qubit-state readout fidelity and the impact of finite DAC resolution on two-qubit gate fidelity is also included in this article, together with an electrical specification summary. The SoC is implemented in Intel’s 22 nm FFL fin field-effect transistor (FinFET) process, and it is characterized both at room and 4 K temperatures. The performance of each specific block is measured, with the readout characterized in a loop-back configuration. Generation of the control signals required for a full Rabi oscillation experiment is also demonstrated. This article also describes the cryogenic thermalization techniques used to integrate the SoC in the dilution refrigerator and shows temperature measurements during operation.

Improved Superconducting Qubit State Readout by Path InterferenceSupported by the Beijing Academy of Quantum Information Science, the Frontier Science Center for Quantum Information of the Ministry of Education of China through the Tsinghua University Initiative Scientific Research Program, the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 11874235), the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant Nos. 2016YFA0301902

High fidelity single shot qubit state readout is essential for many quantum information processing protocols. In superconducting quantum circuit, the qubit state is usually determined by detecting the dispersive frequency shift of a microwave cavity from either transmission or reflection. We demonstrate the use of constructive interference between the transmitted and reflected signal to optimize the qubit state readout, with which we find a better resolved state discrimination and an improved qubit readout fidelity. As a simple and convenient approach, our scheme can be combined with other qubit readout methods based on the discrimination of cavity photon states to further improve the qubit state readout.

An Operation Guide of Si-MOS Quantum Dots for Spin Qubits.

In the last 20 years, silicon quantum dots have received considerable attention from academic and industrial communities for research on readout, manipulation, storage, near-neighbor and long-range coupling of spin qubits. In this paper, we introduce how to realize a single spin qubit from Si-MOS quantum dots. First, we introduce the structure of a typical Si-MOS quantum dot and the experimental setup. Then, we show the basic properties of the quantum dot, including charge stability diagram, orbital state, valley state, lever arm, electron temperature, tunneling rate and spin lifetime. After that, we introduce the two most commonly used methods for spin-to-charge conversion, i.e., Elzerman readout and Pauli spin blockade readout. Finally, we discuss the details of how to find the resonance frequency of spin qubits and show the result of coherent manipulation, i.e., Rabi oscillation. The above processes constitute an operation guide for helping the followers enter the field of spin qubits in Si-MOS quantum dots.

Coherent Control and Spectroscopy of a Semiconductor Quantum Dot Wigner Molecule.

Semiconductor quantum dots containing more than one electron have found wide application in qubits, where they enable readout and enhance polarizability. However, coherent control in such dots has typically been restricted to only the lowest two levels, and such control in the strongly interacting regime has not been realized. Here we report quantum control of eight different transitions in a silicon-based quantum dot. We use qubit readout to perform spectroscopy, revealing a dense set of energy levels with characteristic spacing far smaller than the single-particle energy. By comparing with full configuration interaction calculations, we argue that the dense set of levels arises from Wigner-molecule physics.