The superconducting transmon qubit is currently a leading qubit modality for quantum computing, but gate performance in quantum processor with transmons is often insufficient to support running complex algorithms for practical applications. It is thus highly desirable to further improve gate performance. Due to the weak anharmonicity of transmon, a static ZZ interaction between coupled transmons commonly exists, undermining the gate performance, and in long term, it can become performance limiting. Here we theoretically explore a previously unexplored parameter region in an all-transmon system to address this issue. We show that an feasible parameter region, where the ZZ interaction is heavily suppressed while leaving XY interaction with an adequate strength to implement two-qubit gates, can be found for all-transmon systems. Thus, two-qubit gates, such as cross-resonance gate or iSWAP gate, can be realized without the detrimental effect from static ZZ interaction. To illustrate this, we demonstrate that an iSWAP gate with fast gate speed and dramatically lower conditional phase error can be achieved. Scaling up to large-scale transmon quantum processor, especially the cases with fixed coupling, addressing error, idling error, and crosstalk that arises from static ZZ interaction could also be strongly suppressed.
Scaling the number of qubits while maintaining high-fidelity quantum gates remains a key challenge for quantum computing. Presently, superconducting quantum processors with >50-qubits are actively available. For such systems, fixed-frequency transmons are attractive due to their long coherence and noise immunity. However, scaling fixed-frequency architectures proves challenging due to precise relative frequency requirements. Here we employ laser annealing to selectively tune transmon qubits into desired frequency patterns. Statistics over hundreds of annealed qubits demonstrate an empirical tu…
Measurement-induced state transitions in multi-qubit transmon processors
Quantum Algorithms and Applications Collaboratory, Sandia National Laboratories（桑迪亚国家实验室量子算法与应用协作组）；Institut Quantique and Département de Physique, Université de Sherbrooke（舍布鲁克大学量子研究所与物理系）
We report the characterization of a two-qubit processor implemented with two capacitively coupled tunable superconducting qubits of the transmon type, each qubit having its own non-destructive single-shot readout. The fixed capacitive coupling yields the \sqrt{iSWAP} two-qubit gate for a suitable interaction time. We reconstruct by state tomography the coherent dynamics of the two-bit register as a function of the interaction time, observe a violation of the Bell inequality by 22 standard deviations after correcting readout errors, and measure by quantum process tomography a gate fidelity of 9…
Improving two-qubit gate performance and suppressing crosstalk are major, but often competing, challenges to achieving scalable quantum computation. In particular, increasing the coupling to realize faster gates has been intrinsically linked to enhanced crosstalk due to unwanted two-qubit terms in the Hamiltonian. Here, we demonstrate a novel coupling architecture for transmon qubits that circumvents the standard relationship between desired and undesired interaction rates. Using two fixed frequency coupling elements to tune the dressed level spacings, we demonstrate an intrinsic suppression o…
We propose quantum circuits to test interferometric complementarity using symmetric two-way interferometers coupled to a which-path detector. First, we consider the two-qubit setup in which the controlled transfer of path information to the detector subsystem depletes interference on the probed subspace, testing the visibility-distinguishability trade-off via minimum-error state discrimination measurements. Next, we consider the quantum eraser setup, in which reading out path information in the right basis recovers an interference pattern. These experiments are then carried out in an IBM super…
Controlled-NOT (CNOT) gates are commonly included in the standard gate set of quantum processors and provide an important way to entangle qubits. For fixed-frequency qubits using the cross-resonance entangling technique, using the higher-frequency qubit to control the lower-frequency qubit enables much shorter entangling times than using the lower-frequency qubit as the control. Consequently, when implementing a CNOT gate where logical control by the lower-frequency qubit is needed, compilers may implement this functionality by using an equivalent circuit such as placing Hadamard gates on both…
Processing quantum information using quantum three-level systems or qutrits as the fundamental unit is an alternative to contemporary qubit-based architectures with the potential to provide significant computational advantages. We demonstrate a fully programmable two-qutrit quantum processor by utilizing the third energy eigenstates of two transmons. We develop a parametric coupler to achieve excellent connectivity in the nine-dimensional Hilbert space enabling efficient implementations of two-qutrit gates. We characterize our processor by realizing several algorithms like Deutsch-Jozsa, Berns…
Qubit connectivity is an important property of a quantum processor, with an ideal processor having random access -- the ability of arbitrary qubit pairs to interact directly. Here, we implement a random access superconducting quantum information processor, demonstrating universal operations on a nine-bit quantum memory, with a single transmon serving as the central processor. The quantum memory uses the eigenmodes of a linear array of coupled superconducting resonators. The memory bits are superpositions of vacuum and single-photon states, controlled by a single superconducting transmon couple…
We introduce the sudden variant (SNZ) of the Net Zero scheme realizing controlled-$Z$ (CZ) gates by baseband flux control of transmon frequency. SNZ CZ gates operate at the speed limit of transverse coupling between computational and non-computational states by maximizing intermediate leakage. The key advantage of SNZ is tuneup simplicity, owing to the regular structure of conditional phase and leakage as a function of two control parameters. We realize SNZ CZ gates in a multi-transmon processor, achieving $99.93\pm0.24\%$ fidelity and $0.10\pm0.02\%$ leakage. SNZ is compatible with scalable s…
Improved error correction with leakage reduction units built into qubit measurement in a superconducting quantum processor
QuTech（夸特克）；Delft University of Technology（代尔夫特理工大学）；Kavli Institute of Nanoscience, Delft University of Technology（代尔夫特理工大学卡弗里纳米科学研究所）；SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research（荷兰空间研究协会）
Large-scale quantum computers will inevitably need quantum error correction to protect information against decoherence. Traditional error correction typically requires many qubits, along with high-efficiency error syndrome measurement and real-time feedback. Autonomous quantum error correction (AQEC) instead uses steady-state bath engineering to perform the correction in a hardware-efficient manner. We realize an AQEC scheme, implemented with only two transmon qubits in a 2D scalable architecture, that actively corrects single-photon loss and passively suppresses low-frequency dephasing using …
We propose and experimentally demonstrate a simple and efficient scheme for photonic communication between two remote superconducting modules. Each module consists of a random access quantum information processor with eight-qubit multimode memory and a single flux tunable transmon. The two processor chips are connected through a one-meter long coaxial cable that is coupled to a dedicated "communication" resonator on each chip. The two communication resonators hybridize with a mode of the cable to form a dark "communication mode" that is highly immune to decay in the coaxial cable. We modulate …
Transmon qubits are ubiquitously used in superconducting quantum information processor architectures. Strong drives are required to realize fast, high-fidelity, gates and measurements, including parametrically activated processes. Here, we show that even off-resonant drives, in regimes routinely used in experiments, can cause strong modifications to the structure of the transmon spectrum rendering a large part of it chaotic. Accounting for the full nonlinear dynamics of the transmon in a Floquet-Markov formalism, we find that these chaotic states, often neglected through the hypothesis that th…
With the increasing size of quantum processors, sub-modules that constitute the processor hardware will become too large to accurately simulate on a classical computer. Therefore, one would soon have to fabricate and test each new design primitive and parameter choice in time-consuming coordination between design, fabrication, and experimental validation. Here we show how one can design and test the performance of next-generation quantum hardware -- by using existing quantum computers. Focusing on superconducting transmon processors as a prominent hardware platform, we compute the static and d…
Building a scalable quantum computer requires developing appropriate models to understand and verify its complex quantum dynamics. We focus on superconducting quantum processors based on transmons for which full numerical simulations are already challenging at the level of qubytes. It is thus highly desirable to develop accurate methods of modeling qubit networks that do not rely solely on numerical computations. Using systematic perturbation theory to large orders in the transmon regime, we derive precise analytic expressions of the transmon parameters. We apply our results to the case of par…
Achieving individual qubit readout is a major challenge in the development of scalable superconducting quantum processors. We have implemented the multiplexed readout of a four transmon qubit circuit using non-linear resonators operated as Josephson bifurcation amplifiers. We demonstrate the simultaneous measurement of Rabi oscillations of the four transmons. We find that multiplexed Josephson bifurcation is a high-fidelity readout method, the scalability of which is not limited by the need of a large bandwidth nearly quantum-limited amplifier as is the case with linear readout resonators.
We develop a simulator for quantum computers composed of superconducting transmon qubits. The simulation model supports an arbitrary number of transmons and resonators. Quantum gates are implemented by time-dependent pulses. Nontrivial effects such as crosstalk, leakage to non-computational states, entanglement between transmons and resonators, and control errors due to the pulses are inherently included. The time evolution of the quantum computer is obtained by solving the time-dependent Schrödinger equation. The simulation algorithm shows excellent scalability on high-performance supercomput…
We demonstrate strong suppression of charge dispersion in a semiconductor-based transmon qubit across Josephson resonances associated with a quantum dot in the junction. On resonance, dispersion is drastically reduced compared to conventional transmons with corresponding Josephson and charging energies. We develop a model of qubit dispersion for a single-channel resonance, which is in quantitative agreement with experimental data.
Cross-Resonant Gates in Hybrid Fluxonium-Transmon Systems
University of Wisconsin-Madison（威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校）；SEEQC, Inc.（SEEQC公司）；University of Massachusetts-Amherst（马萨诸塞大学阿默斯特分校）；Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne（洛桑联邦理工学院）
Superconducting Josephson junction qubits constitute the main current technology for many applications, including scalable quantum computers and thermal devices. Theoretical modeling of such systems is usually done within the two-level approximation. However, accurate theoretical modeling requires taking into account the influence of the higher excited states without limiting the system to the two-level qubit subspace. Here, we study the dynamics and control of a superconducting transmon using the numerically exact stochastic Liouville-von Neumann equation approach. We focus on the role of sta…
Qubit information processors are increasing in footprint but currently rely on e-beam lithography for patterning the required Josephson junctions (JJs). Advanced optical lithography is an alternative patterning method, and we report on the development of transmon qubits patterned solely with optical lithography. The lithography uses 193 nm wavelength exposure and 300-mm large silicon wafers. Qubits and arrays of evaluation JJs were patterned with process control which resulted in narrow feature distributions: a standard deviation of 0:78% for a 220 nm linewidth pattern realized across over hal…
Experimental Realization of a C-Shunt Flux-Qubit Coupler for Controlled-Z Gates between Transmons
Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院物理研究所凝聚态物理国家实验室）；School of Physics, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院大学物理学院）；Beijing Academy of Quantum Information Sciences（北京量子信息科学研究院）
