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Title: Impact of ionizing radiation on superconducting qubit coherence

Abstract

The practical viability of any qubit technology stands on long coherence times and high-fidelity operations with the superconducting qubit modality being an auspicious example, However, superconducting qubit coherence is impacted by broken Cooper pairs referred to as quasiparticles, with a density that is empirically observed to be orders of magnitude greater than the value predicted for thermal equilibrium by the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) theory of superconductivity. Previous work has shown that infrared photons significantly increase the quasiparticle density, yet even in the best isolated systems, it still remains higher than expected, suggesting that another generation mechanism exists. In this Letter, we provide evidence that ionizing radiation from environmental radioactive materials and cosmic rays contributes to this observed difference, leading to an elevated quasiparticle density that would ultimately limit superconducting qubits of the type measured here to coherence times in the millisecond regime. Additionally, we further demonstrate that introducing radiation shielding reduces the flux of ionizing radiation and positively correlates with increased coherence time. Albeit a small effect for today’s qubits, reducing or otherwise mitigating the impact of ionizing radiation will be critical for realizing fault-tolerant superconducting quantum computers.

Authors:
ORCiD logo [1];  [1]; ORCiD logo [2];  [3];  [2]; ORCiD logo [1];  [4];  [4];  [4];  [4];  [1]; ORCiD logo [1];  [2]; ORCiD logo [5]
  1. Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
  2. Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
  3. Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States); Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA (United States)
  4. Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Lexington, MA (United States). Lincoln Lab.
  5. Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States); Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Lexington, MA (United States). Lincoln Lab.
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Nuclear Physics (NP); National Science Foundation (NSF); US Army Research Office (ARO)
OSTI Identifier:
1657524
Report Number(s):
PNNL-SA-150722
Journal ID: ISSN 0028-0836; TRN: US2203277
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC05-76RL01830; SC0019295; W911NF-14-1-0682; W911NF-18-1-0218; PHY-1720311
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Nature (London)
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Name: Nature (London); Journal Volume: 584; Journal Issue: 7822; Journal ID: ISSN 0028-0836
Publisher:
Nature Publishing Group
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY; Experimental nuclear physics; qubits; superconducting properties and materials

Citation Formats

Vepsäläinen, Antti P., Karamlou, Amir H., Orrell, John L., Dogra, Akshunna S., Loer, Ben, Vasconcelos, Francisca, Kim, David K., Melville, Alexander J., Niedzielski, Bethany M., Yoder, Jonilyn L., Gustavsson, Simon, Formaggio, Joseph A., VanDevender, Brent A., and Oliver, William D. Impact of ionizing radiation on superconducting qubit coherence. United States: N. p., 2020. Web. doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2619-8.
Vepsäläinen, Antti P., Karamlou, Amir H., Orrell, John L., Dogra, Akshunna S., Loer, Ben, Vasconcelos, Francisca, Kim, David K., Melville, Alexander J., Niedzielski, Bethany M., Yoder, Jonilyn L., Gustavsson, Simon, Formaggio, Joseph A., VanDevender, Brent A., & Oliver, William D. Impact of ionizing radiation on superconducting qubit coherence. United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2619-8
Vepsäläinen, Antti P., Karamlou, Amir H., Orrell, John L., Dogra, Akshunna S., Loer, Ben, Vasconcelos, Francisca, Kim, David K., Melville, Alexander J., Niedzielski, Bethany M., Yoder, Jonilyn L., Gustavsson, Simon, Formaggio, Joseph A., VanDevender, Brent A., and Oliver, William D. Wed . "Impact of ionizing radiation on superconducting qubit coherence". United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2619-8. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1657524.
@article{osti_1657524,
title = {Impact of ionizing radiation on superconducting qubit coherence},
author = {Vepsäläinen, Antti P. and Karamlou, Amir H. and Orrell, John L. and Dogra, Akshunna S. and Loer, Ben and Vasconcelos, Francisca and Kim, David K. and Melville, Alexander J. and Niedzielski, Bethany M. and Yoder, Jonilyn L. and Gustavsson, Simon and Formaggio, Joseph A. and VanDevender, Brent A. and Oliver, William D.},
abstractNote = {The practical viability of any qubit technology stands on long coherence times and high-fidelity operations with the superconducting qubit modality being an auspicious example, However, superconducting qubit coherence is impacted by broken Cooper pairs referred to as quasiparticles, with a density that is empirically observed to be orders of magnitude greater than the value predicted for thermal equilibrium by the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) theory of superconductivity. Previous work has shown that infrared photons significantly increase the quasiparticle density, yet even in the best isolated systems, it still remains higher than expected, suggesting that another generation mechanism exists. In this Letter, we provide evidence that ionizing radiation from environmental radioactive materials and cosmic rays contributes to this observed difference, leading to an elevated quasiparticle density that would ultimately limit superconducting qubits of the type measured here to coherence times in the millisecond regime. Additionally, we further demonstrate that introducing radiation shielding reduces the flux of ionizing radiation and positively correlates with increased coherence time. Albeit a small effect for today’s qubits, reducing or otherwise mitigating the impact of ionizing radiation will be critical for realizing fault-tolerant superconducting quantum computers.},
doi = {10.1038/s41586-020-2619-8},
journal = {Nature (London)},
number = 7822,
volume = 584,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Aug 26 00:00:00 EDT 2020},
month = {Wed Aug 26 00:00:00 EDT 2020}
}

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Works referencing / citing this record:

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