Quantifying trapped magnetic vortex losses in niobium resonators at mK temperatures

Bafia, D.; Abdisatarov, B.; Pilipenko, R.; Lu, Y.; Eremeev, G.; Romanenko, A.; Grassellino, A.

doi:10.1063/5.0282159

Quantifying trapped magnetic vortex losses in niobium resonators at mK temperatures

Journal Article · Mon Oct 13 00:00:00 EDT 2025 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0282159· OSTI ID:2550640

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Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States); Old Dominion Univ., Norfolk, VA (United States)

Trapped magnetic vortices in niobium introduce microwave losses that degrade the performance of superconducting resonators. While such losses have been extensively studied above 1 K, we report here their direct quantification in the millikelvin and low-photon regime relevant to quantum devices. Using a high-quality factor 3D niobium cavity cooled through its superconducting transition in controlled magnetic fields, we isolate vortex-induced losses and find the resistive component of the sensitivity to trapped flux S to be approximately 2 n Ω/mG at 10 mK and 6 GHz. The decay rate is initially dominated by two-level system (TLS) losses from the native niobium pentoxide, with vortex-induced degradation of T₁ occurring above B_trap∼ 50 mG. In the absence of the oxide, even 10 mG of trapped flux limits performance, Q₀∼ 10¹⁰, or T₁∼ 350 ms, underscoring the need for stringent magnetic shielding. The resistive sensitivity, S, decreases with temperature and remains largely field-independent, whereas the reactive component, S′, exhibits a maximum near 0.8 K. These behaviors are well modeled within the Coffey–Clem framework in the zero-creep limit, under the assumption that vortex pinning is enhanced by thermally activated processes. Our results suggest that niobium-based transmon qubits can tolerate vortex-induced dissipation at trapped field levels up to several hundred mG, but achieving long coherence times still requires careful magnetic shielding to suppress lower-field losses from other mechanisms.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States); Old Dominion Univ., Norfolk, VA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-07CH11359

OSTI ID:: 2550640

Report Number(s):: FERMILAB-PUB--25-0147-SQMS; oai:inspirehep.net:2902272; arXiv:2503.14616

Journal Information:: Applied Physics Letters, Journal Name: Applied Physics Letters Journal Issue: 15 Vol. 127; ISSN 0003-6951; ISSN 1077-3118

Publisher:: AIP PublishingCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
Helmholtz coil
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superconducting quantum computing
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Quantifying trapped magnetic vortex losses in niobium resonators at mK temperatures

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