Impact of ionizing radiation on superconducting qubit coherence

doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2619-8

. 2020 Aug;584(7822):551-556.

doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-2619-8. Epub 2020 Aug 26.

Impact of ionizing radiation on superconducting qubit coherence

Affiliations

¹ Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA. [email protected].
² Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
³ Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA. [email protected].
⁴ Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
⁵ Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA.
⁶ MIT Lincoln Laboratory, Lexington, MA, USA.

PMID: 32848227
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-2619-8

Impact of ionizing radiation on superconducting qubit coherence

Antti P Vepsäläinen et al. Nature. 2020 Aug.

. 2020 Aug;584(7822):551-556.

doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-2619-8. Epub 2020 Aug 26.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA. [email protected].
² Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
³ Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA. [email protected].
⁴ Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
⁵ Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA.
⁶ MIT Lincoln Laboratory, Lexington, MA, USA.

PMID: 32848227
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-2619-8

Erratum in

Author Correction: Impact of ionizing radiation on superconducting qubit coherence.
Vepsäläinen AP, Karamlou AH, Orrell JL, Dogra AS, Loer B, Vasconcelos F, Kim DK, Melville AJ, Niedzielski BM, Yoder JL, Gustavsson S, Formaggio JA, VanDevender BA, Oliver WD. Vepsäläinen AP, et al. Nature. 2020 Oct;586(7827):E8. doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-2754-2. Nature. 2020. PMID: 32918069

Abstract

Technologies that rely on quantum bits (qubits) require long coherence times and high-fidelity operations¹. Superconducting qubits are one of the leading platforms for achieving these objectives^2,3. However, the coherence of superconducting qubits is affected by the breaking of Cooper pairs of electrons^4-6. The experimentally observed density of the broken Cooper pairs, referred to as quasiparticles, is orders of magnitude higher than the value predicted at equilibrium by the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer theory of superconductivity^7-9. Previous work^10-12 has shown that infrared photons considerably increase the quasiparticle density, yet even in the best-isolated systems, it remains much higher¹⁰ than expected, suggesting that another generation mechanism exists¹³. Here we provide evidence that ionizing radiation from environmental radioactive materials and cosmic rays contributes to this observed difference. The effect of ionizing radiation leads to an elevated quasiparticle density, which we predict would ultimately limit the coherence times of superconducting qubits of the type measured here to milliseconds. We further demonstrate that radiation shielding reduces the flux of ionizing radiation and thereby increases the energy-relaxation time. Albeit a small effect for today's qubits, reducing or mitigating the impact of ionizing radiation will be critical for realizing fault-tolerant superconducting quantum computers.

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References

1. DiVincenzo, D. The physical implementation of quantum computation. Fortschr. Phys. 48, 771–783 (2000).
1. Arute, F. et al. Quantum supremacy using a programmable superconducting processor. Nature 574, 505–510 (2019). - PubMed
1. Kandala, A. et al. Error mitigation extends the computational reach of a noisy quantum processor. Nature 567, 491–495 (2019). - PubMed
1. Lutchyn, R., Glazman, L. & Larkin, A. Kinetics of the superconducting charge qubit in the presence of a quasiparticle. Phys. Rev. B 74, 064515 (2006).
1. Martinis, J. M., Ansmann, M. & Aumentado, J. Energy decay in superconducting Josephson-junction qubits from nonequilibrium quasiparticle excitations. Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 097002 (2009). - PubMed

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[1] DiVincenzo, D. The physical implementation of quantum computation. Fortschr. Phys. 48, 771–783 (2000).

[2] DiVincenzo, D. The physical implementation of quantum computation. Fortschr. Phys. 48, 771–783 (2000).

[3] Arute, F. et al. Quantum supremacy using a programmable superconducting processor. Nature 574, 505–510 (2019). - PubMed

[4] Arute, F. et al. Quantum supremacy using a programmable superconducting processor. Nature 574, 505–510 (2019). - PubMed

[5] Kandala, A. et al. Error mitigation extends the computational reach of a noisy quantum processor. Nature 567, 491–495 (2019). - PubMed

[6] Kandala, A. et al. Error mitigation extends the computational reach of a noisy quantum processor. Nature 567, 491–495 (2019). - PubMed

[7] Lutchyn, R., Glazman, L. & Larkin, A. Kinetics of the superconducting charge qubit in the presence of a quasiparticle. Phys. Rev. B 74, 064515 (2006).

[8] Lutchyn, R., Glazman, L. & Larkin, A. Kinetics of the superconducting charge qubit in the presence of a quasiparticle. Phys. Rev. B 74, 064515 (2006).

[9] Martinis, J. M., Ansmann, M. & Aumentado, J. Energy decay in superconducting Josephson-junction qubits from nonequilibrium quasiparticle excitations. Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 097002 (2009). - PubMed

[10] Martinis, J. M., Ansmann, M. & Aumentado, J. Energy decay in superconducting Josephson-junction qubits from nonequilibrium quasiparticle excitations. Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 097002 (2009). - PubMed

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Impact of ionizing radiation on superconducting qubit coherence

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Impact of ionizing radiation on superconducting qubit coherence

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