Balanced Cross-Kerr Coupling for Superconducting Qubit Readout

Dispersive readout, the standard method for measuring superconducting qubits, is limited by multiphoton qubit-resonator processes arising even at moderate drive powers. These processes degrade performance, causing dispersive readout to lag behind single- and two-qubit gates in both speed and fidelity. In this Letter, we propose a novel readout method, termed junction readout. Junction readout leverages the nonperturbative cross-Kerr interaction resulting from coupling a qubit and a resonator via a Josephson junction. Furthermore, by adding a capacitive coupling in parallel to the junction, Purcell decay induced by the exchange coupling can be suppressed. We also show that junction readout is more robust against deleterious multiphoton processes, and offers greater flexibility for resonator frequency allocation. Crucially, junction readout achieves superior performance compared to dispersive readout while maintaining similar hardware overhead. Numerical simulations show that junction readout can achieve fidelity exceeding 99.99% in under 30 ns of integration time, making it a promising alternative for superconducting qubit readout with current hardware.