Discovery Paves Way for Improved Quantum Computing Devices

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Superconducting Circuit Silicon Chip Schematic

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Schematic of a superconducting circuit [thin black lines] on a silicon chip [yellow base], being imaged utilizing terahertz scanning near-field microscopy[red beam focused into yellow tip] Credit: University of Queensland

Physicists and engineers have actually discovered a method to recognize and attend to flaws in products for among the most appealing innovations in business quantum computing

The University of Queensland group had the ability to establish treatments and enhance fabrication procedures in typical methods for constructing superconducting circuits on silicon chips.

Dr Peter Jacobson, who co-led the research study, stated the group had actually recognized that flaws presented throughout fabrication minimized the efficiency of the circuits.

“Superconducting quantum circuits are attracting interest from industry giants such as Google and IBM, but widespread application is hindered by ‘decoherence’, a phenomenon which causes information to be lost,” he stated.

“Decoherence is mainly due to interactions in between the superconducting circuit and the silicon chip– a physics issue– and to product flaws presented throughout fabrication– an engineering issue.

“So we needed input from physicists and engineers to find a solution.”

The group utilized a technique called terahertz scanning near-field optical microscopy (THz SNOM)– an atomic force microscopic lense integrated with a THz source of light and detector.

This supplied a mix of high spatial resolution– seeing down to the size of infections– and regional spectroscopic measurements.

Professor Aleksandar Raki ć stated the strategy made it possible for penetrating at the nanoscale instead of the macroscale by focusing light onto a metal pointer.

“This provides new access for us to understand where imperfections are located so we can reduce decoherence and help reduce losses in superconducting quantum devices,” Professor Raki ć stated.

“We discovered that typically utilized fabrication dishes inadvertently present flaws into the silicon chips, which add to decoherence.

“And we also showed that surface treatments reduce these imperfections, which in turn reduces losses in the superconducting quantum circuits.”

Associate Professor Arkady Fedorov stated this enabled the group to figure out where while doing so flaws were presented and enhance fabrication procedures to resolve them.

“Our method allows the same device to be probed multiple times, in contrast to other methods that often require the devices to be cut up before being probed,”Dr Fedorov stated.

“The team’s results provide a path towards improving superconducting devices for use in quantum computing applications.”

In the future, THz SNOM might be utilized to specify brand-new methods to enhance the operation of quantum gadgets and their combination into a practical quantum computer system.

Reference: “Near-field terahertz nanoscopy of coplanar microwave resonators” by Xiao Guo, Xin He, Zach Degnan, Bogdan C. Donose, Karl Bertling, Arkady Fedorov, Aleksandar D. Raki ć and Peter Jacobson, 30 August 2021, Applied Physics Letters
DOI: 10.1063/ 5.0061078