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January 24, 2024• Physics 17, s13

Researchers have demonstrated an unprecedentedly low-frequency superconducting fluxonium qubit, which could facilitate experiments that probe macroscopic quantum phenomena.

S. Delglise/Kastler Brossel Laboratory and CNRS

S. Delglise/Kastler Brossel Laboratory and CNRS

The most popular qubit for quantum computingthe superconducting transmonoperates at a frequency of several billion hertz (GHz), much like 5G cell phones. This frequency excites transitions between the qubit states that researchers use to control the qubit. Now Samuel Delglise of Kastler Brossel Laboratory and the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) in France and colleagues have demonstrated a low-frequency transmon alternative that operates at 1.8 million hertz (MHz)the lowest frequency ever reported for a superconducting qubit [1]. Delglise notes that a qubit that operates at this frequency could be directly coupled to mechanical resonators based on suspended membranes, which vibrate at a few MHz, to perform tests of macroscopic quantum phenomena.

The team used a so-called fluxonium qubit. Fluxonium qubits have previously been demonstrated, with a record low frequency of 14 MHz achieved in 2021. That qubit consisted of a loop formed of a series of hundreds of Josephson junctionsstructures made of two superconductors separated by a thin insulator. The two qubit states corresponded to clockwise and counterclockwise currents flowing in the loop, and the transition frequency was controlled by the strength of a magnetic field threading the loop.

Further lowering the operation frequency of the fluxonium qubit has proved tricky because thermal noise from the environment or noise from magnetic-field fluctuations can easily spoil the qubits quantum properties. To solve these problems, the team cooled the qubit with a technique borrowed from cold-atom systems and then tuned the magnetic field so that the qubit states became Schrodinger-cat states, which are known to be robust against magnetic-field fluctuations. Using this approach the group was able to achieve a tenfold decrease in the operating frequency of the qubit. In experiments, the team also showed that the qubit could serve as an exceptionally sensitive charge sensor that could pick up tiny quantum fluctuations of a membrane.

Matteo Rini

Matteo Rini is the Editor of Physics Magazine.

B.-L. Najera-Santos, R. Rousseau, K. Gerashchenko, H. Patange, A. Riva, M. Villiers, T. Briant, P.-F. Cohadon, A. Heidmann, J. Palomo, M. Rosticher, H. le Sueur, A. Sarlette, W.C. Smith, Z. Leghtas, E. Flurin, T. Jacqmin, and S. Delglise

Phys. Rev. X 14, 011007 (2024)

Published January 24, 2024

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