Robust Qubit Research Articles

Waveguide Quantum Electrodynamics: Tryptophans Entangled with Water as Data Qubits in a Microtubule

In this paper, we introduce waveguide Quantum Electrodynamics (wQED) for the description of tryptophans in microtubules representing data qubits for information storage and, possibly, information processing. We propose a Hamiltonian in wQED and derive Heisenberg equations for qubits and photons. Using the Heisenberg equations, we derive time-evolution equations for the probability of qubits and the distribution of photons both at zero and finite temperature. We then demonstrate the resultant sub-radiance with small decay rates, which is required to achieve robust data qubits for information storage by coupling tryptophan residues containing data qubits with water molecules as Josephson quantum filters (JQFs). We also describe an oscillation processes of qubits in a tubulin dimer through the propagation of excitations with changing decay rates of JQFs. Data qubits are found to retain initial values by adopting sub-radiant states involving entanglement with water degrees of freedom.

Implementation of scalable suspended superinductors

Superinductors have become a crucial component in the superconducting circuit toolbox, playing a key role in the development of more robust qubits. Enhancing the performance of these devices can be achieved by suspending the superinductors from the substrate, thereby reducing stray capacitance. Here, we present a fabrication framework for constructing superconducting circuits with suspended superinductors in planar architectures. To validate the effectiveness of this process, we systematically characterize both resonators and qubits with suspended arrays of Josephson junctions, ultimately confirming the high quality of the superinductive elements. In addition, this process is broadly compatible with other types of superinductors and circuit designs. Our results not only pave the way for scalable superconducting architectures utilizing superinductors but also provide the primitive for future investigation of loss mechanisms associated with the device substrate.

Graphene: Study in Electronic Structure, Superconductivity and Potential in Quantum Information Sciences

Graphene, a two-dimensional lattice of carbon atoms, exhibits remarkable electronic properties due to its Dirac-like electronic excitations. This paper reviews the elementary electronic properties of graphene, including the tight-binding model for single-layer graphene and the band structure formation. The tight-binding Hamiltonian provides a fundamental understanding of graphene’s linear energy dispersion near the Dirac points, leading to unique phenomena such as massless Dirac fermions and chiral tunneling. We explore the potential of superconductivity in graphene using BCS theory. We find that BCS theory cannot explain superconductivity in graphene and its forms. This is in contradiction with the discovery of unconventional superconductivity in twisted bilayer graphene (TBG). The study further explores the potential application of bilayer graphene quantum in quantum information sciences, highlighting the development of states with relaxation times exceeding 500 ms. These valley states, arising from the hexagonal lattice structure, can be used to encode information as robust valley qubits for fault-tolerant quantum computing

Hybrid Quantum Systems with Artificial Atoms in Solid State

AbstractThe development of single‐platform qubits, predominant for most of the last few decades, has driven the progress of quantum information technologies but also highlighted the limitations of various platforms. Some inherent issues, such as charge/spin noise in materials hinder certain platforms, while increased decoherence upon attempts to scale up severely impacts qubit quality and coupling on others. In addition, a universal solution for coherent information transfer between quantum systems remains lacking. By combining one or more qubit platforms, one could potentially create new hybrid platforms that might alleviate significant issues that current single‐platform qubits suffer from, and in some cases, even facilitate the conversion of static to flying qubits on the same hybrid platform. While nascent, this is an area of rising importance that could shed new light on robust and scalable qubit development and provide new impetus for research directions. Here, the requirements for hybrid systems are defined with artificial atoms in the solid state, exemplified with systems that are proposed or attempted, and conclude with the outlook for such hybrid quantum systems.

Silicon spin qubit noise characterization using real-time feedback protocols and wavelet analysis

Recently, several groups have demonstrated two-qubit gate fidelities in semiconductor spin qubit systems above 99%. Achieving this regime of fault-tolerant compatible high fidelities is nontrivial and requires exquisite stability and precise control over the different qubit parameters over an extended period of time. This motivates the search for the efficient calibration of qubit control parameters against different sources of micro- and macroscopic noise and methods for noise analysis. Here, we present several single- and two-qubit parameter feedback protocols, optimized for and implemented in the state-of-the-art fast field-programmable gate array hardware. Furthermore, we present a wavelet-based analysis on feedback data collected over a ∼9 h time frame to gain insight into the different sources of noise in the system. Scalable feedback is an outstanding challenge and the presented implementation and analysis gives insight into the benefits and drawbacks of qubit parameter feedback, as feedback related overhead increases. This work demonstrates a pathway toward robust qubit parameter feedback and systematic noise analysis, crucial for mitigation strategies toward systematic high-fidelity qubit operation compatible with quantum error correction protocols.

Robust hybrid qubit plane architecture for enhancing lattice-surgery-based surface codes

Robust hybrid qubit plane architecture for enhancing lattice-surgery-based surface codes

High-fidelity robust qubit control by phase-modulated pulses

We present a set of and pulses that realize paradigmatic operations such as the transfer of the ground state population into the excited state and arbitrary X/Y rotations on the Bloch sphere. These pulses are based on the phase modulation of the control field. We provide an experimental proof-of-concept of these operations by using a transmon qubit, demonstrating resilience against deviations in the drive amplitude of more than ≈20%, and/or detuning from the qubit transition frequency in the order of 10MHz. This modulation scheme is straightforward to implement in practice and can be deployed to any other qubit-based experimental platform. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Long-lived valley states in bilayer graphene quantum dots

Bilayer graphene is a promising platform for electrically controllable qubits in a two-dimensional material. Of particular interest is the ability to encode quantum information in the valley degree of freedom, a two-fold orbital degeneracy that arises from the symmetry of the hexagonal crystal structure. The use of valleys could be advantageous, as known spin- and orbital-mixing mechanisms are unlikely to be at work for valleys, promising more robust qubits. The Berry curvature associated with valley states allows for electrical control of their energies, suggesting routes for coherent qubit manipulation. However, the relaxation time of valley states—which ultimately limits these qubits’ coherence properties and therefore their suitability as practical qubits—is not yet known. Here we measure the characteristic relaxation times of these spin and valley states in gate-defined bilayer graphene quantum dot devices. Different valley states can be distinguished from each other with a fidelity of over 99%. The relaxation time between valley triplets and singlets exceeds 500 ms and is more than one order of magnitude longer than for spin states. This work facilitates future measurements on valley-qubit coherence, demonstrating bilayer graphene as a practical platform hosting electrically controlled, long-lived valley qubits.

Dipolar spin-exchange and entanglement between molecules in an optical tweezer array

Ultracold polar molecules are promising candidate qubits for quantum computing and quantum simulations. Their long-lived molecular rotational states form robust qubits, and the long-range dipolar interaction between molecules provides quantum entanglement. In this work, we demonstrate dipolar spin-exchange interactions between single calcium monofluoride (CaF) molecules trapped in an optical tweezer array. We realized the spin- 1 2 quantum XY model by encoding an effective spin- 1 2 system into the rotational states of the molecules and used it to generate a Bell state through an iSWAP operation. Conditioned on the verified existence of molecules in both tweezers at the end of the measurement, we obtained a Bell state fidelity of 0.89(6). Using interleaved tweezer arrays, we demonstrate single-site molecular addressability.

Superconducting Quantum Circuits Based on 2D Materials

Transmon-type superconducting qubits have become a popular platform for quantum computing due to their robust qubit coherence properties. In recent years, different types of materials have been searched to replace the Al2O3 tunnel barrier in conventional Al-based Josephson junctions, in order to explore new functions of qubits utilizing the distinct nature of the chosen materials. In this report, we introduce our works involving using Weyl semimetals and graphene as a component in Josephson junctions for qubit designs and coupling to coplanar waveguide (CPW) resonators. We fabricate a MoTe2 transmon and investigate whether it exhibits topological properties by tuning the resonator frequency with magnetic flux. Next, we introduce a graphene gatemon, in which the gate-tunability of resonator frequency has been demonstrated and the two-tone spectroscopy has shown a qubit state transition.

Decoherence mitigation by embedding a logical qubit in a qudit

Quantum information stored in a qubit is rapidly lost to the environment. The realization of robust qubits is one of the most important challenges in quantum computing. Herein, we propose to embed a logical qubit within the manifold of a qudit as a scheme to preserve quantum information over extended periods of time. Under identical conditions (e.g., decoherence channels), the submanifold of the logical qubit exhibits extended lifetimes compared to a pure two-level system (qubit). The retention of quantum information further improves with separation between the sublevels of the logical qubit. Lifetime enhancement can be understood in terms of entropy production of the encoding and nonencoding subspaces during evolution under a quantum map for a d-level system. The additional pathways for coherent evolution through intermediate sublevels within a d-level manifold provide an information-preserving mechanism: reversible alternative channels to the irreversible loss of information to the environment characteristic of open quantum systems.

Optimization of shadow evaporation and oxidation for reproducible quantum Josephson junction circuits

The most commonly used physical realization of superconducting qubits for quantum circuits is a transmon. There are a number of superconducting quantum circuits applications, where Josephson junction critical current reproducibility over a chip is crucial. Here, we report on a robust chip scale Al/AlOx/Al junctions fabrication method due to comprehensive study of shadow evaporation and oxidation steps. We experimentally demonstrate the evidence of optimal Josephson junction electrodes thickness, deposition rate and deposition angle, which ensure minimal electrode surface and line edge roughness. The influence of oxidation method, pressure and time on critical current reproducibility is determined. With the proposed method we demonstrate Al/AlOx/Al junction fabrication with the critical current variation (sigma /langle {I_{c} } rangle ) less than 3.9% (from 150 × 200 to 150 × 600 nm2 area) and 7.7% (for 100 × 100 nm2 area) over 20 × 20 mm2 chip. Finally, we fabricate separately three 5 × 10 mm2 chips with 18 transmon qubits (near 4.3 GHz frequency) showing less than 1.9% frequency variation between qubits on different chips. The proposed approach and optimization criteria can be utilized for a robust wafer-scale superconducting qubit circuits fabrication.

Robust Quantum Memory in a Trapped-Ion Quantum Network Node.

We integrate a long-lived memory qubit into a mixed-species trapped-ion quantum network node. Ion-photon entanglement first generated with a network qubit in ^{88}Sr^{+} is transferred to ^{43}Ca^{+} with 0.977(7) fidelity, and mapped to a robust memory qubit. We then entangle the network qubit with a second photon, without affecting the memory qubit. We perform quantum state tomography to show that the fidelity of ion-photon entanglement decays ∼70 times slower on the memory qubit. Dynamical decoupling further extends the storage duration; we measure an ion-photon entanglement fidelity of 0.81(4) after 10s.

Ramped measurement technique for robust high-fidelity spin qubit readout.

State preparation and measurement of single-electron spin qubits typically rely on spin-to-charge conversion where a spin-dependent charge transition of the electron is detected by a coupled charge sensor. For high-fidelity, fast readout, this process requires that the qubit energy is much larger than the temperature of the system limiting the temperature range for measurements. Here, we demonstrate an initialization and measurement technique that involves voltage ramps rather than static voltages allowing us to achieve state-to-charge readout fidelities above 99% for qubit energies almost half that required by traditional methods. This previously unidentified measurement technique is highly relevant for achieving high-fidelity electron spin readout at higher temperature operation and offers a number of pragmatic benefits compared to traditional energy-selective readout such as real-time dynamic feedback and minimal alignment procedures.

Exploiting Anyonic Behavior of Quasicrystals for Topological Quantum Computing

The concrete realization of topological quantum computing using low-dimensional quasiparticles, known as anyons, remains one of the important challenges of quantum computing. A topological quantum computing platform promises to deliver more robust qubits with additional hardware-level protection against errors that could lead to the desired large-scale quantum computation. We propose quasicrystal materials as such a natural platform and show that they exhibit anyonic behavior that can be used for topological quantum computing. Different from anyons, quasicrystals are already implemented in laboratories. In particular, we study the correspondence between the fusion Hilbert spaces of the simplest non-abelian anyon, the Fibonacci anyons, and the tiling spaces of the one-dimensional Fibonacci chain and the two-dimensional Penrose tiling quasicrystals. A concrete encoding on these tiling spaces of topological quantum information processing is also presented by making use of inflation and deflation of such tiling spaces. While we outline the theoretical basis for such a platform, details on the physical implementation remain open.

Fluxonium: An Alternative Qubit Platform for High-Fidelity Operations

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.

Role of anomalous symmetry in 0−π qubits

We present an exact full symmetry analysis of the 0-$\pi$ superconducting circuit. We identify points in control parameter space of enhanced anomalous symmetry, which imposes robust twofold degeneracy of its ground state, that is for all values of the energy parameters of the model. We show, both analytically and numerically, how this anomalous symmetry is maintained in the low-energy sector, thus providing us with a strong candidate for robust qubit engineering.

Coherent control of a donor-molecule electron spin qubit in silicon

Donor spins in silicon provide a promising material platform for large scale quantum computing. Excellent electron spin coherence times of {T}_{2}^{* }=268 μs with fidelities of 99.9% have been demonstrated for isolated phosphorus donors in isotopically pure 28Si, where donors are local-area-implanted in a nanoscale MOS device. Despite robust single qubit gates, realising two-qubit exchange gates using this technique is challenging due to the statistical nature of the dopant implant and placement process. In parallel a precision scanning probe lithography route has been developed to place single donors and donor molecules on one atomic plane of silicon with high accuracy aligned to heavily phosphorus doped silicon in-plane gates. Recent results using this technique have demonstrated a fast (0.8 ns) two-qubit gate with two P donor molecules placed 13 nm apart in natSi. In this paper we demonstrate a single qubit gate with coherent oscillations of the electron spin on a P donor molecule in natSi patterned by scanning tunneling microscope (STM) lithography. The electron spin exhibits excellent coherence properties, with a {T}_{2} decoherence time of 298 ± 30 μs, and {T}_{2}^{* } dephasing time of 295 ± 23 ns.

Symmetry-Enhanced Boundary Qubits at Infinite Temperature

The Z_{2}×Z_{2} symmetry-protected topological (SPT) phase hosts a robust boundary qubit at zero temperature. At finite energy density, the SPT phase is destroyed and bulk observables equilibrate in finite time. Nevertheless, we predict parametric regimes in which the boundary qubit survives to arbitrarily high temperature, with an exponentially longer coherence time than that of the thermal bulk degrees of freedom. In a dual picture, the persistence of the qubit stems from the inability of the bulk to absorb the virtual Z_{2}×Z_{2} domain walls emitted by the edge during the relaxation process. We confirm the long coherence times via exact diagonalization and connect it to the presence of a pair of conjugate almost strong zero modes. Our results provide a route to experimentally construct long-lived coherent boundary qubits at infinite temperature in disorder-free systems. To this end, we propose and analyze an implementation using a Rydberg optical-tweezer array and demonstrate that the difference between edge- and bulk-spin autocorrelators can be distinguished on timescales significantly shorter than the typical coherence time.

Cavity control over heavy-hole spin qubits in inversion-symmetric crystals

The pseudospin of heavy-holes (HHs) confined in a semiconductor quantum dot (QD) represents a promising candidate for a fast and robust qubit. While hole spin manipulation by a classical electric field utilizing the Dresselhaus spin-orbit interaction (SOI) has been demonstrated, our work explores cavity-based qubit manipulation and coupling schemes for inversion-symmetric crystals forming a planar HH QD. Choosing the exemplary material Germanium (Ge), we derive an effective cavity-mediated ground state spin coupling that harnesses the cubic Rashba SOI. In addition, we propose an optimal set of parameters which allows for Rabi frequencies in the MHz range, thus entering the strong coupling regime of cavity quantum electrodynamics.