Quantum dot-based spin qubits are resilient towards charge noise and are affected by magnetic noise only. However, environmental interaction leads to decoherence in these qubit systems. The external control parameters are directly related to the magnitude of decoherence. This in turn limits the range of values of those parameters for which operations can be done with high fidelity. In this work, using a model of quantum dot spin qubit system, we investigate the impact of varying ac magnetic fields on suppression of decoherence. We report an increment in the usable range of static magnetic field value using our technique.
We investigate decoherence in a triple quantum dot in ring configuration in which one dot is coupled to a damped phonon mode, while the other two dots are connected to source and drain, respectively. In the absence of decoherence, single electron transport may get blocked by an electron falling into a superposition decoupled from the drain and known as dark state. Phonon-mediated decoherence affects this superposition and leads to a finite current. We study the current and its shot noise numerically within a master equation approach for the electrons and the dissipative phonon mode. A polaron …
We investigate heavy-hole spin relaxation and decoherence in quantum dots in perpendicular magnetic fields. We show that at low temperatures the spin decoherence time is two times longer than the spin relaxation time. We find that the spin relaxation time for heavy holes can be comparable to or even longer than that for electrons in strongly two-dimensional quantum dots. We discuss the difference in the magnetic-field dependence of the spin relaxation rate due to Rashba or Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling for systems with positive (i.e., GaAs quantum dots) or negative (i.e., InAs quantum dots) …
We study decoherence of a quantum dot charge qubit due to coupling to piezoelectric acoustic phonons in the Born-Markov approximation. After including appropriate form factors, we find that phonon decoherence rates are one to two orders of magnitude weaker than was previously predicted. We calculate the dependence of the Q-factor on lattice temperature, quantum dot size, and interdot coupling. Our results suggest that mechanisms other than phonon decoherence play a more significant role in current experimental setups.
In double quantum dots, the exchange interaction between two electron spins renormalizes the excitation energy of pair-flips in the nuclear spin bath, which in turn modifies the non-Markovian bath dynamics. As the energy renormalization varies with the Overhauser field mismatch between the quantum dots, the electron singlet-triplet decoherence resulting from the bath dynamics depends on sampling of nuclear spin states from an ensemble, leading to the transition from exponential decoherence in single-sample dynamics to power-law decay under ensemble averaging. In contrast, the decoherence of a …
We have developed quantitative description of quantum coherent oscillations in the system of two coupled qubits in the presence of weak decoherence that in general can be correlated between the two qubits. It is shown that in the experimentally realized scheme of excitation of the oscillations, their waveform is not very sensitive to the magnitude of decoherence correlations. Modification of this scheme into potentially useful probe of the degree of decoherence correlations at the two qubits is suggested.
We analyze and interpret recent optical experiments with semiconductor quantum dots. We derive a quantitative relation between the amount of information transferred into the environment and the optical polarization that may be observed in a spectroscopy experiment.
We investigate effects of the particle-hole asymmetry on the properties of Majorana qubtis. Particle-hole asymmetric pertrubation shifts Majorana zero mode from zero-energy. This type of asymmetry can act as a source of decoherence in Majorana qubits. We find that particle-hole asymmetric pertrubation causes phase-shifts and bit-flips decoherence processes in Majorana qubits. However, these sources of decoherence are negligible in uniform system with spatially separated Majorana zero modes.
In this article we review our work on the dynamics and decoherence of electron and hole spins in single and double quantum dots. The first part, on electron spins, focuses on decoherence induced via the hyperfine interaction while the second part covers decoherence and relaxation of heavy-hole spins due to spin-orbit interaction as well as the manipulation of heavy-hole spin using electric dipole spin resonance.
The effects resulting due to dressing of an exciton with phonons are analysed as the source of unavoidable decoherence of orbital degrees of freedom in quantum dots. The dressing with longitudinal optical phonons results in energetic shift of order of a few meV even of the ground state of exciton in a state-of-the-art InAs/GaAs dot and the mediating role of longitudinal acoustical phonons is essential in this process. The characteristic time needed for dressing of the exciton with optical phonons is of a picosecond order. That time can be regarded as the lowest limit for decoherence for optica…
We review recent studies on spin decoherence of electrons and holes in quasi-two-dimensional quantum dots, as well as electron-spin relaxation in nanowire quantum dots. The spins of confined electrons and holes are considered major candidates for the realization of quantum information storage and processing devices, provided that sufficently long coherence and relaxation times can be achieved. The results presented here indicate that this prerequisite might be realized in both electron and hole quantum dots, taking one large step towards quantum computation with spin qubits.
In this paper, we study the quantum decoherence induced by accumulation of electron tunnelings during the quantum measurement of a charge qubit. The charge qubit is a single electron confined in coupled quantum dots. The measurement of the qubit states is performed using a quantum point contact. A set of master equations for qubit states is derived within a nonequilibrium perturbation to the equilibrium reservoir due to the electron accumulation between the source and drain of the quantum point contact. The quantum decoherence of the qubit states arose from the electron accumulation during the…
We investigate electron charge decoherence in a laterally-coupled single-electron semiconductor double quantum dot through electron-phonon interaction. We analytically and numerically evaluate the relaxation and dephasing rates due to electron coupling to both acoustic and optical phonons, and explore the system parameter space in terms of interdot distance, strength of single-dot confinement, and inter-dot coupling strength. Our numerical results show that the electron scattering rates are strongly dependent on the strength of the electron confinement and the size of the system. In addition, …
Coherence in electronic interferometers is typically believed to be restored fully in the limit of small voltages, frequencies and temperatures. However, it is crucial to check this essentially perturbative argument by nonperturbative methods. Here, we use the numerical renormalization group to study ac transport and decoherence in an experimentally realizable model interferometer, a parallel double quantum dot coupled to a phonon mode. The model allows to clearly distinguish renormalization effects from decoherence. We discuss finite frequency transport and confirm the restoration of coherenc…
We consider a quantum dot attached to leads in the Coulomb blockade regime which has a spin 1/2 ground state. We show that by applying an ESR field to the dot-spin the stationary current in the sequential tunneling regime exhibits a resonance whose line width is determined by the single-spin decoherence time T_2. The Rabi oscillations of the dot-spin are shown to induce coherent current oscillations from which T_2 can be deduced in the time domain. We describe a spin-inverter which can be used to pump current through a double-dot via spin flips generated by ESR.
We analyze the robustness of decoherence-free (DF) subspace and subsystem in charge qubits, when difference from the collective decoherence measurement condition is large in the long time period, which is applicable for solid-state qubits using as a quantum memory. We solve master equations of up to four charge qubits and a detector as a quantum point contact (QPC). We show that robustness of DF states is strongly affected by local non-uniformities. We also discuss the possible two-qubit logical states by exactly solving the master equations.
Rapid progress in semiconductor spin qubits has enabled experimental demonstrations of a two-qubit logic gate. Understanding spin decoherence in a two-qubit logic gate is necessary for optimal qubit operation. We study spin decoherence due to $1/f$ charge noise for two electrons in a double quantum dot used for a two-qubit controlled-phase gate. In contrast to the usual belief, spin decoherence can be dominated by the tunneling noise from $1/f$ charge noise instead of the detuning noise. Tunneling noise can dominate because the effect of tunneling noise on the spin qubit is first order in the …
We theoretically study the interaction of a heavy hole with nuclear spins in a quasi-two-dimensional III-V semiconductor quantum dot and the resulting dephasing of heavy-hole spin states. It has frequently been stated in the literature that heavy holes have a negligible interaction with nuclear spins. We show that this is not the case. In contrast, the interaction can be rather strong and will be the dominant source of decoherence in some cases. We also show that for unstrained quantum dots the form of the interaction is Ising-like, resulting in unique and interesting decoherence properties, w…
In this article, we report the recent progress on decoherence dynamics of electrons in quantum dot quantum computing systems using the exact master equation we derived recently based on the Feynman-Vernon influence functional approach. The exact master equation is valid for general nanostructure systems coupled to multi-reservoirs with arbitrary spectral densities, temperatures and biases. We take the double quantum dot charge qubit system as a specific example, and discuss in details the decoherence dynamics of the charge qubit under coherence controls. The decoherence dynamics risen from the…
We discuss various methods of all-optical spin control in semiconductor quantum dots. We present different ways of rotating a single confined electron spin by optical coupling to a trion state. We also discuss a method for controlling the polarization of a confined exciton via a two-photon transition. Finally, we analyze the effect of phonon-induced decoherence on the fidelity of these optical spin control protocols.
In this paper, we develop a non-perturbation theory for describing decoherence dynamics of electron charges in a double quantum dot gated by electrodes. We extend the Feynman-Vernon influence functional theory to fermionic environments and derive an exact master equation for the reduced density matrix of electrons in the double dot for a general spectral density at arbitrary temperature and bias. We then investigate the decoherence dynamics of the double dot charge qubit with back-action of the reservoirs being fully taken into account. Time-dependent fluctuations and leakage effects induced f…
We study the fundamental limit on single-photon indistinguishability imposed by decoherence due to phonon interactions in semiconductor quantum dot-cavity QED systems. Employing an exact diagonalization approach we find large differences compared to standard methods. An important finding is that short-time non-Markovian effects limit the maximal attainable indistinguishability. The results are explained using a polariton picture that yields valuable insight into the phonon-induced dephasing dynamics.
We analyse various phonon-assisted mechanisms which contribute to the decoherence of excitonic qubits in quantum dot systems coupled by the Förster-type transfer process. We show the significant loss of coherence accompanied by dissipation due to charge carrier oscillations between qubit states by using a model of one-phonon assisted Förster-type transfer process. We obtain explicit expressions for the relaxation and dephasing times for excitonic qubits interacting with acoustic phonons via both deformation potential and piezoelectric coupling. We compare the decoherence times of the GaAs/AlGa…
In semiconductors, the T2* coherence time of a single confined spin is limited either by the fluctuating magnetic environment (via the hyperfine interaction), or by charge fluctuations (via the spin-orbit interaction). We demonstrate that both limitations can be overcome simultaneously by using two exchange-coupled electron spins that realize a single decoherence-avoiding qubit. Using coherent population trapping, we generate a coherent superposition of the singlet and triplet states of an optically active quantum-dot molecule, and show that the corresponding T2* may exceed 200 nanoseconds.
We study the collective interaction of excitons in closely spaced artificial molecules and arrays of nearly identical quantum dots with the electromagnetic modes. We discuss how collective fluorescence builds up in the presence of a small mismatch of the transition energy. We show that a superradiant state of a single exciton in a molecule of two dots with realistic energy mismatch undergoes a two-rate decay. We analyze also the stability of subdecoherent states for non-identical systems.
Recently an ensemble of nuclear spins in a quantum dot have been proposed as a long-lived quantum memory. A quantum state of an electron spin in the dot can be faithfully transfered into nuclear spins through controlled hyperfine coupling. Here we study the decoherence of this memory due to nuclear spin dipolar coupling and inhomogeneous hyperfine interaction during the {\it storage} period. We calculated the maximum fidelity of writing, storing and reading operations. Our results show that nuclear spin dynamics can severely limits the performance of the proposed device for quantum information…
We study the decoherence of a single electron spin in an isolated quantum dot induced by hyperfine interaction with nuclei for times smaller than the nuclear spin relaxation time. The decay is caused by the spatial variation of the electron envelope wave function within the dot, leading to a non-uniform hyperfine coupling. We evaluate the spin correlation function with and without magnetic fields and find that the decay of the spin precession amplitude is not exponential but rather power (inverse logarithm) law-like. For fully polarized nuclei we find an exact solution and show that the preces…
We study the influence of the phonon environment on the electron dynamics in a doped quantum dot molecule. A non-perturbative quantum kinetic theory based on correlation expansion is used in order to describe both diagonal and off-diagonal electron-phonon couplings representing real and virtual processes with relevant acoustic phonons. We show that the relaxation is dominated by phonon-assisted electron tunneling between constituent quantum dots and occurs on a picosecond time scale. The dependence of the time evolution of the quantum dot occupation probabilities on the energy mismatch between…
We investigate in detail, using both analytical and numerical tools, the decoherence of electron spins in quantum dots (QDs) coupled to a bath of nuclear spins in magnetic fields or with various initial bath polarizations, focusing on the longitudinal relaxation in low and moderate field/polarization regimes. An increase of the initial polarization of nuclear spin bath has the same effect on the decoherence process as an increase of the external magnetic field, namely, the decoherence dynamics changes from smooth decay to damped oscillations. This change can be observed experimentally for a si…
We study the role of charge fluctuations in the decoherence of Rabi oscillations between spin states |$\uparrow \downarrow$>, |$\downarrow \uparrow$> of two electrons in a double dot structure. We consider the effects of fluctuations in energy and in the quantum state of the system, both in the classical and quantum limit. The role of state fluctuations is shown to be of leading order at sufficiently high temperature, applicable to actual experiments. At low temperature the low frequency energy fluctuations are the only dominant contribution.
This Chapter contains a review of the recent results, both experimental and theoretical, related to optical control of carriers confined in semiconductor quantum dots. The physics of Rabi oscillations of exciton and biexciton occupations, as well as time-domain interference experiments are discussed. Next, the impact of carrier--phonon interaction in a semiconductor structure is described and modern methods of theoretical description of the carrier--phonon kinetics and of the resulting dephasing are presented.
The effects of a nearby two-level charge fluctuator on a double-dot two-spin qubit are studied theoretically. Assuming no direct tunneling between the charge fluctuator and the qubit quantum dots, the Coulomb couplings between the qubit orbital states and the fluctuator are calculated within the Hund-Mulliken framework to quadrupole-quadrupole order in a multipole expansion. We identify and quantify the coupling term that entangles the qubit to the fluctuator and analyze qubit decoherence effects that result from the decay of the fluctuator to its reservoir. Our results show that the charge en…
The control of discrete quantum states in solids and their use for quantum information processing is complicated by the lack of a detailed understanding of the mechanisms responsible for qubit decoherences. For spin qubits in semiconductor quantum dots, phenomenological models of decoherence currently recognize two Basic stages; fast ensemble dephasing due to the coherent precession of spin qubits around nearly static but randomly distributed hyperfine fields and a much slower process of irreversible relaxation of spin qubit polarization due to dynamics of the nuclear spin bath induced by comp…
The interplay between interference effects and electron-electron interactions in electron transport through an interacting double quantum dot system is investigated using a hierarchical quantum master equation approach which becomes exact if carried to infinite order and converges well if the temperature is not too low. Decoherence due to electron-electron interactions is found to give rise to pronounced negative differential resistance, enhanced broadening of structures in current-voltage characteristics and an inversion of the electronic population. Dependence on gate voltage is shown to be …
We theoretically consider charge transport through two quantum dots coupled in series. The corresponding full counting statistics for noninteracting electrons is investigated in the limits of sequential and coherent tunneling by means of a master equation approach and a density matrix formalism, respectively. We clearly demonstrate the effect of quantum coherence on the zero-frequency cumulants of the transport process, focusing on noise and skewness. Moreover, we establish the continuous transition from the coherent to the incoherent tunneling limit in all cumulants of the transport process a…
Combining scattering matrix theory with non-linear $σ$-model and Keldysh technique we develop a unified theoretical approach enabling one to non-perturbatively study the effect of electron-electron interactions on weak localization and Aharonov-Bohm oscillations in arbitrary arrays of quantum dots. Our model embraces (i) weakly disordered conductors (ii) strongly disordered conductors and (iii) metallic quantum dots. In all these cases at $T \to 0$ the electron decoherence time is found to saturate to a finite value determined by the universal formula which agrees quantitatively with numerous …
In this thesis I find an analytic expression for the conductance of a single electron transistor in the regime when temperature, level spacing, and charging energy of an island are all of the same order. I also study the correction to the spacing between Coulomb blockade peaks due to finite dot-lead tunnel couplings. I find analytic expressions for both correction to the spacing averaged over mesoscopic fluctuations and the rms of the correction fluctuations. In the second part of the thesis I discuss the feasibility of quantum dot based spin- and charge-qubits. Firstly, I study the effect of …
Solid state quantum bits are a promising candidate for the realization of a scalable quantum computer, however, they are usually strongly limited by decoherence. We consider a double quantum dot charge qubit, whose basis states are defined by the position of an additional electron in the system of two laterally coupled quantum dots. The coupling of these two states can be controlled externally by a quantum point contact between the two dots. We discuss the decoherence through coupling to the electronic leads due to cotunneling processes. We focus on a simple Gedanken experiment, where the syst…
Decoherence of a flux qubit due to inelastic scattering of thermal phonons by the qubit is studied. The computed decoherence rates contain no unknown constants and are expressed entirely in terms of measurable parameters of the qubit. The answer depends strongly on the size of the qubit as compared to the wavelength of phonons of frequency corresponding to the tunnel splitting of the qubit. Thermal phonons set the upper limit on the operating temperature of a small qubit at around 10-20 K. For large qubits acoustic decoherence due to one phonon processes should be taken into account at any tem…
We discuss decoherence in charge qubits formed by multiple lateral quantum dots in the framework of the spin-boson model and the Born-Markov approximation. We consider the intrinsic decoherence caused by the coupling to bulk phonon modes. Two distinct quantum dot configurations are studied: (i) Three quantum dots in a ring geometry with one excess electron in total and (ii) arrays of quantum dots where the computational basis states form multipole charge configurations. For the three-dot qubit, we demonstrate the possibility of performing one- and two-qubit operations by solely tuning gate vol…
We study the effect of decoherence on a weak value measurement in a paradigm system consisting of a double quantum dot continuously measured by a quantum point contact. Fluctuations of the parameters controlling the dot state induce decoherence. We find that, for measurements longer than the decoherence time, weak values are always reduced within the range of the eigenvalues of the measured observable. For measurements at shorter time scales, the measured weak value strongly depends on the interplay between the decoherence dynamics of the system and the detector backaction. In particular, depe…
On the way to solid-state quantum computing, overcoming decoherence is the central issue. In this contribution, we discuss the modeling of decoherence of a superonducting flux qubit coupled to dissipative electronic circuitry. We discuss its impact on single qubit decoherence rates and on the performance of two-qubit gates. These results can be used for designing decoherence-optimal setups.
We study theoretically how decoherence affects superposition states composed of entangled states in inductively coupled two superconducting flux-qubits. We discover that the quantum fluctuation of an observable in a coupled flux-qubit system plays a crucial role in decoherence when the expectation value of the observable is zero. This examplifies that decoherence can be also induced through a quantum mechanically higher-order effect. We also find that there exists a decoherence free subspace for the environment coupled via a charge degree of freedom of the qubit system.
Recent experiments by Hayashi et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 91, 226804 (2003)] demonstrate coherent oscillations of a charge quantum bit (qubit) in laterally defined quantum dots. We study the intrinsic electron-phonon decoherence and gate performance for the next step: a system of two coupled charge qubits. The effective decoherence model contains properties of local as well as collective decoherence. Decoherence channels can be classified by their multipole moments, which leads to different low-energy spectra. It is shown that due to the super-Ohmic spectrum, the gate quality is limited by the si…
Coherent single electron spin oscillation in a double quantum dot system driven by a magnetic electron spin resonance field is studied theoretically using a Bloch-type rate equation approach. The oscillation frequency and relaxation time obtained using typical model parameters are consistent with experiment findings. The dominant decoherence mechanism is identified to be a leakage current through a Coulomb blockade barrier at a quantum dot during the spin manipulation. Nuclear field fluctuations which induce a long relaxation time are found to contribute only negligibly to the decoherence desp…
We study a pair of capacitively coupled singlet-triplet spin qubits. We characterize the two-qubit decoherence through two complementary measures, the decay time of coupled-qubit oscillations and the fidelity of entangled state preparation. We provide a quantitative map of their dependence on charge noise and field noise, and we highlight the magnetic field gradient across each singlet-triplet qubit as an effective tool to suppress decoherence due to charge noise.
Qubit realizations based on Majorana bound states have been considered promising candidates for quantum information processing which is inherently inert to decoherence. We put the underlying general arguments leading to this conjecture to the test from an open quantum system perspective. It turns out that, from a fundamental point of view, the Majorana qubit is as susceptible to decoherence as any local paradigm of a qubit.
This work deals with two pressing issues in the design and operation of Josephson qubits -- loss of coherence and measurement. (Longer abstract follows in the work.)
We study the decoherence effect of charge noise on a single flip-flop qubit and two dipole-coupled qubits. We find that a single flip-flop qubit is highly resistant to charge noise at its sweet spots. However, due to the proximity of the charge excited states to the flip-flop logical states, the presence of charge noise greatly reduces the fidelity of two-qubit operations. We identify leakage from the qubit Hilbert space as the main culprit for the reduced gate fidelity. We also explore different bias conditions to mitigate this decoherence channel.
We theoretically study the nuclear spin induced decoherence of a quantum dot in Si that is confined at a SiGe interface. We calculate decoherence time dependence on $^{73}$Ge in the barrier layer to evaluate the importance of Ge as well as Si enrichment for long decoherence times. We use atomistic tight-binding modeling for an accurate account of the electron wavefunction which is particularly important for determining the contact hyperfine interactions with the Ge nuclear spins. We find decoherence times due to Ge spins at natural concentrations to be milliseconds. This suggests SiGe/Si quant…
We investigate theoretically acoustic phonon induced decoherence in quantum dots. We calculate the dephasing of fundamental (interband or intraband) optical transitions due to real and virtual transitions with higher energy levels. Up to two acoustic phonon processes (absorption and/or emission) are taken into account simultaneously in a non-perturbative manner. An analytic expression of acoustic phonon induced broadening is given as a function of the electron-phonon matrix elements and is physically interpreted. The theory is applied to the dephasing of intersublevel transitions in self-assem…
By coupling with a qubit, we demonstrate that qubit decoherence can unambiguously detect the occurrence of ground-state degeneracy in many-body systems. We first demonstrate universality using the two-band model. Consequently, several exemplifications, focused on topological condensed matter systems in one, two, and three dimensions, are presented to validate our proposal. The key point is that qubit decoherence varies significantly when energy bands touch each other at the Fermi surface. In addition, it can partially reflect the degeneracy inside the band. This feature implies that qubit deco…
We discuss decoherence due to electromagnetic fluctuations in charge qubits formed by two lateral quantum dots. We use an effective circuit model to evaluate correlations of voltage fluctuations in the qubit setup. These correlations allows us to estimate energy (T1) and phase (T2) relaxation times of the the qubit system. Our theoretical estimate of the quality factor due to dephasing by electromagnetic fluctuations yields values much higher than those found in recent experiments, indicating that other sources of decoherence play a dominant role.
We analyze the quantum process tomography (QPT) in the presence of decoherence, focusing on distinguishing local and non-local decoherence mechanisms for a two-partite system from experimental QPT data. In particular, we consider the $\sqrt{\rm iSWAP}$ gate realized with superconducting phase qubits and calculate the QPT matrix $χ$ in the presence of several local and non-local decoherence processes. We determine specific patterns of these decoherence processes, which can be used for a fast identification of the main decoherence mechanisms from an experimental $χ$-matrix.
Interaction of solid state qubits with environmental degrees of freedom strongly affects the qubit dynamics, and leads to decoherence. In quantum information processing with solid state qubits, decoherence significantly limits the performances of such devices. Therefore, it is necessary to fully understand the mechanisms that lead to decoherence. In this review we discuss how decoherence affects two of the most successful realizations of solid state qubits, namely, spin-qubits and superconducting qubits. In the former, the qubit is encoded in the spin 1/2 of the electron, and it is implemented…
We propose a method based on optically detected magnetic resonance (ODMR) to measure the decoherence time $T_{2}$ of a single electron spin in a semiconductor quantum dot. The electron spin resonance (ESR) of a single excess electron on a quantum dot is probed by circularly polarized laser excitation. Due to Pauli blocking, optical excitation is only possible for one of the electron-spin states. The photoluminescence is modulated due to the ESR which enables the measurement of electron spin decoherence. We study different possible schemes for such an ODMR setup.
We uncover two microscopic physical settings with significant pure spin decoherence. First, for quantum dots (QD) electrostatically confined in two-dimensional hole gas, decoherence comes from qubit spin-orbit (SO) coupling to phonons, whose decay due to free charge carriers in contacts is described by Ohmic weighted phonon spectral function. We derive significant SO interactions affecting holes with origin and symmetry distinct from that of conventionally considered Dresselhaus and Rashba terms. In the second setting of electron or hole QDs coupled to a linear chain of atoms, decoherence is d…
It has often been assumed that electrically floating qubits, such as flux qubits, are immune to decoherence due to capacitive coupling. We show that capacitive coupling to bias leads can be a dominant source of dissipation, and therefore of decoherence, for such floating qubits. Classical electrostatic arguments are sufficient to get a good estimate of this source of relaxation for standard superconducting qubit designs. We show that relaxation times can be improved by designing floating qubits so they couple symmetrically to the bias leads. Observed coherence times of flux qubits with varying…