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Chen M, Owens JC, Putterman H, Schäfer M, Painter O. Phonon engineering of atomic-scale defects in superconducting quantum circuits. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2024; 10:eado6240. [PMID: 39270028 PMCID: PMC11397498 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.ado6240] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/12/2024] [Accepted: 08/07/2024] [Indexed: 09/15/2024]
Abstract
Noise within solid-state systems at low temperatures can typically be traced back to material defects. In amorphous materials, these defects are broadly described by the tunneling two-level systems (TLSs) model. TLS have recently taken on further relevance in quantum computing because they dominate the coherence limit of superconducting quantum circuits. Efforts to mitigate TLS impacts have thus far focused on circuit design, material selection, and surface treatments. Our work takes an approach that directly modifies TLS properties. This is achieved by creating an acoustic bandgap that suppresses all microwave-frequency phonons around the operating frequency of a transmon qubit. For embedded TLS strongly coupled to the transmon qubit, we measure a pronounced increase in relaxation time by two orders of magnitude, with the longest T1 time exceeding 5 milliseconds. Our work opens avenues for studying the physics of highly coherent TLS and methods for mitigating noise within solid-state quantum devices.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mo Chen
- Thomas J. Watson, Sr., Laboratory of Applied Physics, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
- Institute for Quantum Information and Matter, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
- Kavli Nanoscience Institute, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
| | - John Clai Owens
- Thomas J. Watson, Sr., Laboratory of Applied Physics, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
- Institute for Quantum Information and Matter, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
- Kavli Nanoscience Institute, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
| | | | - Max Schäfer
- Thomas J. Watson, Sr., Laboratory of Applied Physics, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
- Institute for Quantum Information and Matter, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
- Kavli Nanoscience Institute, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
| | - Oskar Painter
- Thomas J. Watson, Sr., Laboratory of Applied Physics, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
- Institute for Quantum Information and Matter, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
- Kavli Nanoscience Institute, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
- AWS Center for Quantum Computing, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
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Müller C, Cole JH, Lisenfeld J. Towards understanding two-level-systems in amorphous solids: insights from quantum circuits. REPORTS ON PROGRESS IN PHYSICS. PHYSICAL SOCIETY (GREAT BRITAIN) 2019; 82:124501. [PMID: 31404914 DOI: 10.1088/1361-6633/ab3a7e] [Citation(s) in RCA: 46] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
Amorphous solids show surprisingly universal behaviour at low temperatures. The prevailing wisdom is that this can be explained by the existence of two-state defects within the material. The so-called standard tunneling model has become the established framework to explain these results, yet it still leaves the central question essentially unanswered-what are these two-level defects (TLS)? This question has recently taken on a new urgency with the rise of superconducting circuits in quantum computing, circuit quantum electrodynamics, magnetometry, electrometry and metrology. Superconducting circuits made from aluminium or niobium are fundamentally limited by losses due to TLS within the amorphous oxide layers encasing them. On the other hand, these circuits also provide a novel and effective method for studying the very defects which limit their operation. We can now go beyond ensemble measurements and probe individual defects-observing the quantum nature of their dynamics and studying their formation, their behaviour as a function of applied field, strain, temperature and other properties. This article reviews the plethora of recent experimental results in this area and discusses the various theoretical models which have been used to describe the observations. In doing so, it summarises the current approaches to solving this fundamentally important problem in solid-state physics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Clemens Müller
- IBM Research Zurich, 8803 Rüschlikon, Switzerland. Institute for Theoretical Physics, ETH Zürich, 8093 Zürich, Switzerland. ARC Centre of Excellence for Engineered Quantum Systems, School of Mathematics and Physics, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia
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Suppression of low-frequency charge noise in superconducting resonators by surface spin desorption. Nat Commun 2018; 9:1143. [PMID: 29559633 PMCID: PMC5861058 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-03577-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/10/2017] [Accepted: 02/22/2018] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Noise and decoherence due to spurious two-level systems located at material interfaces are long-standing issues for solid-state quantum devices. Efforts to mitigate the effects of two-level systems have been hampered by a lack of knowledge about their chemical and physical nature. Here, by combining dielectric loss, frequency noise and on-chip electron spin resonance measurements in superconducting resonators, we demonstrate that desorption of surface spins is accompanied by an almost tenfold reduction in the charge-induced frequency noise in the resonators. These measurements provide experimental evidence that simultaneously reveals the chemical signatures of adsorbed magnetic moments and highlights their role in generating charge noise in solid-state quantum devices.
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Lisenfeld J, Bilmes A, Matityahu S, Zanker S, Marthaler M, Schechter M, Schön G, Shnirman A, Weiss G, Ustinov AV. Decoherence spectroscopy with individual two-level tunneling defects. Sci Rep 2016; 6:23786. [PMID: 27030167 PMCID: PMC4815015 DOI: 10.1038/srep23786] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/07/2016] [Accepted: 03/14/2016] [Indexed: 12/01/2022] Open
Abstract
Recent progress with microfabricated quantum devices has revealed that an ubiquitous source of noise originates in tunneling material defects that give rise to a sparse bath of parasitic two-level systems (TLSs). For superconducting qubits, TLSs residing on electrode surfaces and in tunnel junctions account for a major part of decoherence and thus pose a serious roadblock to the realization of solid-state quantum processors. Here, we utilize a superconducting qubit to explore the quantum state evolution of coherently operated TLSs in order to shed new light on their individual properties and environmental interactions. We identify a frequency-dependence of TLS energy relaxation rates that can be explained by a coupling to phononic modes rather than by anticipated mutual TLS interactions. Most investigated TLSs are found to be free of pure dephasing at their energy degeneracy points, around which their Ramsey and spin-echo dephasing rates scale linearly and quadratically with asymmetry energy, respectively. We provide an explanation based on the standard tunneling model, and identify interaction with incoherent low-frequency (thermal) TLSs as the major mechanism of the pure dephasing in coherent high-frequency TLS.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jürgen Lisenfeld
- Physikalisches Institut, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany
| | - Alexander Bilmes
- Physikalisches Institut, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany
| | - Shlomi Matityahu
- Department of Physics, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva 84105, Israel
| | - Sebastian Zanker
- Institut für Theoretische Festkörperphysik, KIT, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany
| | - Michael Marthaler
- Institut für Theoretische Festkörperphysik, KIT, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany
| | - Moshe Schechter
- Department of Physics, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva 84105, Israel
| | - Gerd Schön
- Institut für Theoretische Festkörperphysik, KIT, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany
| | - Alexander Shnirman
- Institut für Theorie der Kondensierten Materie, KIT, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany
- L. D. Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics RAS, Kosygina street 2, 119334 Moscow, Russia
| | - Georg Weiss
- Physikalisches Institut, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany
| | - Alexey V. Ustinov
- Physikalisches Institut, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany
- National University of Science and Technology MISIS, Leninsky prosp. 4, Moscow, 119049, Russia
- Russian Quantum Center, 100 Novaya St., Skolkovo, 143025 Moscow region, Russia
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DuBois T, Cyster M, Opletal G, Russo S, Cole J. Constructingab initiomodels of ultra-thin Al–AlOx–Al barriers. MOLECULAR SIMULATION 2015. [DOI: 10.1080/08927022.2015.1068941] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
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Lisenfeld J, Grabovskij GJ, Müller C, Cole JH, Weiss G, Ustinov AV. Observation of directly interacting coherent two-level systems in an amorphous material. Nat Commun 2015; 6:6182. [PMID: 25652611 PMCID: PMC4327544 DOI: 10.1038/ncomms7182] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2014] [Accepted: 12/27/2014] [Indexed: 12/01/2022] Open
Abstract
Parasitic two-level tunnelling systems originating from structural material defects affect the functionality of various microfabricated devices by acting as a source of noise. In particular, superconducting quantum bits may be sensitive to even single defects when these reside in the tunnel barrier of the qubit's Josephson junctions, and this can be exploited to observe and manipulate the quantum states of individual tunnelling systems. Here, we detect and fully characterize a system of two strongly interacting defects using a novel technique for high-resolution spectroscopy. Mutual defect coupling has been conjectured to explain various anomalies of glasses, and was recently suggested as the origin of low-frequency noise in superconducting devices. Our study provides conclusive evidence of defect interactions with full access to the individual constituents, demonstrating the potential of superconducting qubits for studying material defects. All our observations are consistent with the assumption that defects are generated by atomic tunnelling.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jürgen Lisenfeld
- Physikalisches Institut, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany
| | | | - Clemens Müller
- Département de Physique, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Québec, Canada J1K 2R1
- ARC Centre of Excellence for Engineered Quantum Systems, School of Mathematics and Physics, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia
| | - Jared H. Cole
- Chemical and Quantum Physics, School of Applied Sciences, RMIT University, Melbourne 3001, Australia
| | - Georg Weiss
- Physikalisches Institut, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany
| | - Alexey V. Ustinov
- Physikalisches Institut, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany
- National University of Science and Technology MISIS, Leninsky prosp. 4, Moscow, 119049, Russia
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Evidence for interacting two-level systems from the 1/f noise of a superconducting resonator. Nat Commun 2014; 5:4119. [DOI: 10.1038/ncomms5119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 78] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/14/2013] [Accepted: 05/14/2014] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
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Ramos T, Sudhir V, Stannigel K, Zoller P, Kippenberg TJ. Nonlinear quantum optomechanics via individual intrinsic two-level defects. PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS 2013; 110:193602. [PMID: 23705706 DOI: 10.1103/physrevlett.110.193602] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2013] [Indexed: 06/02/2023]
Abstract
We propose to use the intrinsic two-level system (TLS) defect states found naturally in integrated optomechanical devices for exploring cavity QED-like phenomena with localized phonons. The Jaynes-Cummings-type interaction between TLS and mechanics can reach the strong coupling regime for existing nano-optomechanical systems, observable via clear signatures in the optomechanical output spectrum. These signatures persist even at finite temperature, and we derive an explicit expression for the temperature at which they vanish. Further, the ability to drive the defect with a microwave field allows for realization of phonon blockade, and the available controls are sufficient to deterministically prepare non-classical states of the mechanical resonator.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tomás Ramos
- Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria
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Wenner J, Yin Y, Lucero E, Barends R, Chen Y, Chiaro B, Kelly J, Lenander M, Mariantoni M, Megrant A, Neill C, O'Malley PJJ, Sank D, Vainsencher A, Wang H, White TC, Cleland AN, Martinis JM. Excitation of superconducting qubits from hot nonequilibrium quasiparticles. PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS 2013; 110:150502. [PMID: 25167235 DOI: 10.1103/physrevlett.110.150502] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2012] [Revised: 03/04/2013] [Indexed: 06/03/2023]
Abstract
Superconducting qubits probe environmental defects such as nonequilibrium quasiparticles, an important source of decoherence. We show that "hot" nonequilibrium quasiparticles, with energies above the superconducting gap, affect qubits differently from quasiparticles at the gap, implying qubits can probe the dynamic quasiparticle energy distribution. For hot quasiparticles, we predict a non-negligible increase in the qubit excited state probability Pe. By injecting hot quasiparticles into a qubit, we experimentally measure an increase of Pe in semiquantitative agreement with the model and rule out the typically assumed thermal distribution.
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Affiliation(s)
- J Wenner
- Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA
| | - Yi Yin
- Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA
| | - Erik Lucero
- Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA
| | - R Barends
- Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA
| | - Yu Chen
- Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA
| | - B Chiaro
- Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA
| | - J Kelly
- Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA
| | - M Lenander
- Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA
| | - Matteo Mariantoni
- Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA and California NanoSystems Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA
| | - A Megrant
- Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA and Department of Materials, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA
| | - C Neill
- Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA
| | - P J J O'Malley
- Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA
| | - D Sank
- Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA
| | - A Vainsencher
- Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA
| | - H Wang
- Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA and Department of Physics, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China
| | - T C White
- Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA
| | - A N Cleland
- Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA and California NanoSystems Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA
| | - John M Martinis
- Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA and California NanoSystems Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA
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10
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DuBois TC, Per MC, Russo SP, Cole JH. Delocalized oxygen as the origin of two-level defects in Josephson junctions. PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS 2013; 110:077002. [PMID: 25166396 DOI: 10.1103/physrevlett.110.077002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2012] [Indexed: 06/03/2023]
Abstract
One of the key problems facing superconducting qubits and other Josephson junction devices is the decohering effects of bistable material defects. Although a variety of phenomenological models exist, the true microscopic origin of these defects remains elusive. For the first time we show that these defects may arise from delocalization of the atomic position of the oxygen in the oxide forming the Josephson junction barrier. Using a microscopic model, we compute experimentally observable parameters for phase qubits. Such defects are charge neutral but have nonzero response to both applied electric field and strain. This may explain the observed long coherence time of two-level defects in the presence of charge noise, while still coupling to the junction electric field and substrate phonons.
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Affiliation(s)
- Timothy C DuBois
- Chemical and Quantum Physics, School of Applied Sciences, RMIT University, Melbourne, Victoria 3001, Australia
| | - Manolo C Per
- Chemical and Quantum Physics, School of Applied Sciences, RMIT University, Melbourne, Victoria 3001, Australia and Virtual Nanoscience Laboratory, CSIRO Materials Science and Engineering, Parkville, Victoria 3052, Australia
| | - Salvy P Russo
- Chemical and Quantum Physics, School of Applied Sciences, RMIT University, Melbourne, Victoria 3001, Australia
| | - Jared H Cole
- Chemical and Quantum Physics, School of Applied Sciences, RMIT University, Melbourne, Victoria 3001, Australia
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Grabovskij GJ, Peichl T, Lisenfeld J, Weiss G, Ustinov AV. Strain Tuning of Individual Atomic Tunneling Systems Detected by a Superconducting Qubit. Science 2012; 338:232-4. [DOI: 10.1126/science.1226487] [Citation(s) in RCA: 86] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Grigorij J. Grabovskij
- Physikalisches Institut and Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) Center for Functional Nanostructures (CFN), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, 76128 Karlsruhe, Germany
| | - Torben Peichl
- Physikalisches Institut and Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) Center for Functional Nanostructures (CFN), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, 76128 Karlsruhe, Germany
| | - Jürgen Lisenfeld
- Physikalisches Institut and Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) Center for Functional Nanostructures (CFN), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, 76128 Karlsruhe, Germany
| | - Georg Weiss
- Physikalisches Institut and Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) Center for Functional Nanostructures (CFN), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, 76128 Karlsruhe, Germany
| | - Alexey V. Ustinov
- Physikalisches Institut and Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) Center for Functional Nanostructures (CFN), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, 76128 Karlsruhe, Germany
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