Loss tangent fluctuations due to two-level systems in superconducting microwave resonators

TL;DR

This study reveals significant temporal fluctuations in the loss tangent of two-level systems in superconducting microwave resonators, affecting their performance and stability over hours, with implications for quantum computing devices.

Contribution

It demonstrates that TLS loss tangent fluctuations cause measurable and correlated variations in resonator quality factors over time, highlighting a previously underappreciated source of decoherence.

Findings

Fluctuations in $Q_i$ are observed over 12-16 hours.

Fluctuations decrease with increasing power and temperature.

Correlations exist between low- and medium-power $Q_i$ fluctuations.

Abstract

Superconducting microwave resonators are critical to quantum computing and sensing technologies. Additionally, they are common proxies for superconducting qubits when determining the effects of performance-limiting loss mechanisms such as from two-level systems (TLS). The extraction of these loss mechanisms is often performed by measuring the internal quality factor $Q_i$ as a function of power or temperature. In this work, we investigate large temporal fluctuations of $Q_i$ at low powers over periods of 12 to 16 hours (relative standard deviation $\sigma_{Q_i}/Q_i = 13\%$). These fluctuations are ubiquitous across multiple resonators, chips and cooldowns. We are able to attribute these fluctuations to variations in the TLS loss tangent due to two main indicators. First, measured fluctuations decrease as power and temperature increase. Second, for interleaved measurements, we observe correlations between low- and medium-power $Q_i$ fluctuations and an absence of correlations with high-power fluctuations. Agreement with the TLS loss tangent mean is obtained by performing measurements over a time span of a few hours. We hypothesize that, in addition to decoherence due to coupling to individual near-resonant TLS, superconducting qubits are affected by these observed TLS loss tangent fluctuations.