Integration of topological insulator Josephson junctions in superconducting qubit circuits

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the integration of topological insulator Josephson junctions into superconducting transmon qubits, enabling exploration of topological effects in quantum circuits with potential for advanced topological qubits.

Contribution

It reports the first realization of topological insulator Josephson junction-based transmon qubits with scalable Josephson energy and coherence, advancing hybrid topological-superconducting quantum circuits.

Findings

Josephson energy scales with junction dimensions

Achieved qubit control and quantum coherence

Demonstrated compatibility with circuit QED techniques

Abstract

The integration of semiconductor Josephson junctions (JJs) in superconducting quantum circuits provides a versatile platform for hybrid qubits and offers a powerful way to probe exotic quasiparticle excitations. Recent proposals for using circuit quantum electrodynamics (cQED) to detect topological superconductivity motivate the integration of novel topological materials in such circuits. Here, we report on the realization of superconducting transmon qubits implemented with $(Bi_{0.06}Sb_{0.94})_{2}Te_{3}$ topological insulator (TI) JJs using ultra-high vacuum fabrication techniques. Microwave losses on our substrates with monolithically integrated hardmask, used for selective area growth of TI nanostructures, imply microsecond limits to relaxation times and thus their compatibility with strong-coupling cQED. We use the cavity-qubit interaction to show that the Josephson energy of TI-based transmons scales with their JJ dimensions and demonstrate qubit control as well as temporal quantum coherence. Our results pave the way for advanced investigations of topological materials in both novel Josephson and topological qubits.