Measurement of correlated charge noise in superconducting qubits at an underground facility

The charge environment of superconducting qubits may be studied through the introduction of controlled, quantified amounts of ionizing radiation. We measure space- and time-correlated charge jumps on a four-qubit device, operating 107 meters below the Earth's surface in a low-radiation, cryogenic facility designed for the characterization of low-threshold particle detectors. The rock overburden of this facility reduces the cosmic ray muon flux by over 99% compared to laboratories at sea level. Combined with 4π coverage of a movable lead shield, this facility enables quantifiable control over the flux of ionizing radiation on the qubit device. Long-time-series charge tomography measurements on these weakly charge-sensitive qubits capture discontinuous jumps in the induced charge on the qubit islands, corresponding to the interaction of ionizing radiation with the qubit substrate. The rate of these charge jumps scales with the flux of ionizing radiation on the qubit package, as characterized by a series of independent measurements on another energy-resolving detector operating simultaneously in the same cryostat with the qubits. Using lead shielding, we achieve a minimum charge jump rate of <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:mn>0.1</mml:mn> <mml:msubsup><mml:mrow><mml:mn>9</mml:mn></mml:mrow> <mml:mrow><mml:mo>-</mml:mo> <mml:mn>0.03</mml:mn></mml:mrow> <mml:mrow><mml:mo>+</mml:mo> <mml:mn>0.04</mml:mn></mml:mrow> </mml:msubsup> </mml:math> mHz, almost an order of magnitude lower than that measured in surface tests, but a factor of roughly seven higher than expected based on reduction of ambient gammas alone. We operate four qubits for over 22 consecutive hours with zero correlated charge jumps at length scales above three millimeters.

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Journal
Nature Communications
Published
2025-11-11
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-63724-4
Primary Topic
Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Measurement of correlated charge noise in superconducting qubits at an underground facility

R. Linehan, R. McDermott, Clancy W. James, Samantha M. Lewis et al.
Nature Communications
Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena
article

Measurement of correlated charge noise in superconducting qubits at an underground facility

R. Linehan, R. McDermott, Clancy W. James, Samantha M. Lewis, N. A. Kurinsky, A. Chou, Jialin Yu, Sho Uemura, P. Lukens, R. Chen, N. Raha, Gabriel Spahn, Gert G. Wagner, E. Figueroa‐Feliciano, H. Magoon, C. Bathurst, B. Schmidt, Shovik Ray, Rakshya Khatiwada, Dylan Temples, D. Baxter, Gustavo Cancelo, R. Gualtieri, Sara Sussman, D. Bowring, T. Dyson, R. Ren, M. Hollister, G. Bratrud, K. T. Kennard, K. Anyang, A. Colón Cesaní, D. Sabhari, V. Novati, K. Stifter, L. Hsu, Atanay Odella Rodriguez, I. Hernandez
article en

Abstract

The charge environment of superconducting qubits may be studied through the introduction of controlled, quantified amounts of ionizing radiation. We measure space- and time-correlated charge jumps on a four-qubit device, operating 107 meters below the Earth's surface in a low-radiation, cryogenic facility designed for the characterization of low-threshold particle detectors. The rock overburden of this facility reduces the cosmic ray muon flux by over 99% compared to laboratories at sea level. Combined with 4π coverage of a movable lead shield, this facility enables quantifiable control over the flux of ionizing radiation on the qubit device. Long-time-series charge tomography measurements on these weakly charge-sensitive qubits capture discontinuous jumps in the induced charge on the qubit islands, corresponding to the interaction of ionizing radiation with the qubit substrate. The rate of these charge jumps scales with the flux of ionizing radiation on the qubit package, as characterized by a series of independent measurements on another energy-resolving detector operating simultaneously in the same cryostat with the qubits. Using lead shielding, we achieve a minimum charge jump rate of <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:mn>0.1</mml:mn> <mml:msubsup><mml:mrow><mml:mn>9</mml:mn></mml:mrow> <mml:mrow><mml:mo>-</mml:mo> <mml:mn>0.03</mml:mn></mml:mrow> <mml:mrow><mml:mo>+</mml:mo> <mml:mn>0.04</mml:mn></mml:mrow> </mml:msubsup> </mml:math> mHz, almost an order of magnitude lower than that measured in surface tests, but a factor of roughly seven higher than expected based on reduction of ambient gammas alone. We operate four qubits for over 22 consecutive hours with zero correlated charge jumps at length scales above three millimeters.

Nature CommunicationsVol. 16(1)
Northwestern University (US), Tufts University (US), Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (US), University of Wisconsin–Madison (US), Illinois Institute of Technology (US), University of Toronto (CA), Wellesley College (US), Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives (FR), Université Paris-Saclay (FR), SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (US), University of Florida (US), Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology (US), Institut de Recherche sur les Lois Fondamentales de l'Univers (FR), Université Grenoble Alpes (FR), Stanford University (US)
National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity, High Energy Physics, Workforce Development for Teachers and Scientists
Openalex Percentile: Top 85%
Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena
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