Noise correlations in a flux qubit with tunable tunnel coupling

TL;DR

This study measures flux-noise correlations in a tunable superconducting flux qubit, revealing anti-correlated flux fluctuations likely caused by surface spins, which impacts qubit coherence.

Contribution

It introduces a method to extract both amplitude and sign of flux noise correlations in a tunable flux qubit.

Findings

Flux fluctuations in the two loops are anti-correlated.

Flux noise is consistent with a model involving surface spins.

The measurement technique enables characterization of noise correlations.

Abstract

We have measured flux-noise correlations in a tunable superconducting flux qubit. The device consists of two loops that independently control the qubit's energy splitting and tunnel coupling. Low frequency flux noise in the loops causes fluctuations of the qubit frequency and leads to dephasing. Since the noises in the two loops couple to different terms of the qubit Hamiltonian, a measurement of the dephasing rate at different bias points provides a way to extract both the amplitude and the sign of the noise correlations. We find that the flux fluctuations in the two loops are anti-correlated, consistent with a model where the flux noise is generated by randomly oriented unpaired spins on the metal surface.