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Photon-assisted charge-parity switches in superconducting qubits

ORAL

Abstract

Here we identify a mechanism by which stray photons, with energy large enough to break Cooper pairs, can cause decoherence in superconducting qubits. Similar to decoherence induced by steady-state nonequilibrium quasiparticles, these photon-assisted tunneling (PAT) processes are associated with a change in the charge parity of the qubit. This enables the separation of these quasiparticle-related processes from other contributions to decoherence. Our theory predicts similar rates of PAT-induced relaxation and excitation of the qubit, in agreement with recent experiments. This talk will detail the similarities and differences between PAT processes and decoherence induced by nonequilibrium quasiparticle tunneling.

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Presenters

  • Kyle Serniak

    MIT Lincoln Lab, Yale University, MIT Lincoln Laboratory, Applied Physics, Yale University

Authors

  • Kyle Serniak

    MIT Lincoln Lab, Yale University, MIT Lincoln Laboratory, Applied Physics, Yale University

  • Manuel Houzet

    Univ. Grenoble Alpes, CEA, INAC-Pheliqs, Grenoble, France, CEA Grenoble

  • Gianluigi Catelani

    JARA Institute for Quantum Information (PGI-11), Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany, Forschungzentrum Jülich, Forschungzentrum Julich

  • Spencer Diamond

    Yale University, Department of Applied Physics, Yale University, Applied Physics, Yale University

  • Max Hays

    Yale University, Department of Applied Physics, Yale University, Applied Physics, Yale University

  • Valla Fatemi

    Yale University, Department of Applied Physics, Yale University, Applied Physics, Yale University

  • Michel H. Devoret

    Yale University, Department of Applied Physics, Yale University, Applied Physics, Yale University

  • Leonid Glazman

    Yale University, Dept. of Physics and Applied Physics, Yale University, Department of Applied Physics, Yale University