Removing leakage-induced correlated errors in superconducting quantum error correction.

Quantum computing can become scalable through error correction, but logical error rates only decrease with system size when physical errors are sufficiently uncorrelated. During computation, unused high energy levels of the qubits can become excited, creating leakage states that are long-lived and mobile. Particularly for superconducting transmon qubits, this leakage opens a path to errors that are correlated in space and time. Here, we report a reset protocol that returns a qubit to the ground state from all relevant higher level states. We test its performance with the bit-flip stabilizer code, a simplified version of the surface code for quantum error correction. We investigate the accumulation and dynamics of leakage during error correction. Using this protocol, we find lower rates of logical errors and an improved scaling and stability of error suppression with increasing qubit number. This demonstration provides a key step on the path towards scalable quantum computing.

Demonstrating a Continuous Set of Two-Qubit Gates for Near-Term Quantum Algorithms.

Quantum algorithms offer a dramatic speedup for computational problems in material science and chemistry. However, any near-term realizations of these algorithms will need to be optimized to fit within the finite resources offered by existing noisy hardware. Here, taking advantage of the adjustable coupling of gmon qubits, we demonstrate a continuous two-qubit gate set that can provide a threefold reduction in circuit depth as compared to a standard decomposition. We implement two gate families: an imaginary swap-like (iSWAP-like) gate to attain an arbitrary swap angle, θ, and a controlled-phase gate that generates an arbitrary conditional phase, ϕ. Using one of each of these gates, we can perform an arbitrary two-qubit gate within the excitation-preserving subspace allowing for a complete implementation of the so-called Fermionic simulation (fSim) gate set. We benchmark the fidelity of the iSWAP-like and controlled-phase gate families as well as 525 other fSim gates spread evenly across the entire fSim(θ,ϕ) parameter space, achieving a purity-limited average two-qubit Pauli error of 3.8×10^{-3} per fSim gate.

Diabatic Gates for Frequency-Tunable Superconducting Qubits.

We demonstrate diabatic two-qubit gates with Pauli error rates down to 4.3(2)×10^{-3} in as fast as 18 ns using frequency-tunable superconducting qubits. This is achieved by synchronizing the entangling parameters with minima in the leakage channel. The synchronization shows a landscape in gate parameter space that agrees with model predictions and facilitates robust tune-up. We test both iswap-like and cphase gates with cross-entropy benchmarking. The presented approach can be extended to multibody operations as well.

Fluctuations of Energy-Relaxation Times in Superconducting Qubits.

Superconducting qubits are an attractive platform for quantum computing since they have demonstrated high-fidelity quantum gates and extensibility to modest system sizes. Nonetheless, an outstanding challenge is stabilizing their energy-relaxation times, which can fluctuate unpredictably in frequency and time. Here, we use qubits as spectral and temporal probes of individual two-level-system defects to provide direct evidence that they are responsible for the largest fluctuations. This research lays the foundation for stabilizing qubit performance through calibration, design, and fabrication.

Tunable graphene dc superconducting quantum interference device.

Graphene exhibits unique electrical properties on account of its reduced dimensionality and "relativistic" band structure. When contacted with two superconducting electrodes, graphene can support Cooper pair transport, resulting in the well-known Josephson effect. We report here the fabrication and operation of a two junction dc superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) formed by a single graphene sheet contacted with aluminum/palladium electrodes in the geometry of a loop. The supercurrent in this device can be modulated not only via an electrostatic gate but also by an applied magnetic fielda potentially powerful probe of electronic transport in graphene and an ultrasensitive platform for nanomagnetometry.

Phase-locking transition in a chirped superconducting Josephson resonator.

We observe a sharp threshold for dynamic phase locking in a high-Q transmission line resonator embedded with a Josephson tunnel junction, and driven with a purely ac, chirped microwave signal. When the drive amplitude is below a critical value, which depends on the chirp rate and is sensitive to the junction critical current I0, the resonator is only excited near its linear resonance frequency. For a larger amplitude, the resonator phase locks to the chirped drive and its amplitude grows until a deterministic maximum is reached. Near threshold, the oscillator evolves smoothly in one of two diverging trajectories, providing a way to discriminate small changes in I0 with a nonswitching detector, with potential applications in quantum state measurement.

Narrow-band microwave radiation from a biased single-Cooper-pair transistor.

We show that a single-Cooper-pair transistor (SCPT) electrometer emits narrow-band microwave radiation when biased in its subgap region. Photoexcitation of quasiparticle tunneling in a nearby SCPT is used to spectroscopically detect this radiation in a configuration that closely mimics a qubit-electrometer integrated circuit. We identify emission lines due to Josephson radiation and radiative transport processes in the electrometer and argue that a dissipative superconducting electrometer can severely disrupt the system it attempts to measure.

Poisson transition rates from time-domain measurements with a finite bandwidth.

In time-domain measurements of a Poisson two-level system, the observed transition rates are always smaller than those of the actual system, a general consequence of a finite measurement bandwidth in an experiment. This underestimation of the rates is significant even when the measurement and detection apparatus are 10 times faster than the process under study. We derive here a quantitative form for this correction, using a straightforward state transition model that includes the detection apparatus, and provide a method for determining a system's actual transition rates from bandwidth-limited measurements. We support our results with computer simulations and experimental data from time-domain measurements of quasiparticle tunneling in a single-Cooper-pair transistor.

Fluctuation dominated Josephson tunneling with a scanning tunneling microscope.

We demonstrate Josephson tunneling in vacuum tunnel junctions formed between a superconducting scanning tunneling microscope tip and a Pb film, for junction resistances in the range 50-300 k Omega. We show that the superconducting phase dynamics is dominated by thermal fluctuations, and that the Josephson current appears as a peak centered at small finite voltage. In the presence of microwave fields ( f = 15.0 GHz) the peak decreases in magnitude and shifts to higher voltages with increasing rf power, in agreement with theory.