Offset Charge Dependence of Measurement-Induced Transitions in Transmons

TL;DR

This paper experimentally investigates how measurement-induced transitions in transmon qubits depend on gate charge, revealing charge-dependent ionization thresholds and emphasizing the importance of higher-order harmonics for accurate modeling.

Contribution

It provides the first experimental confirmation of gate charge dependence of measurement-induced transitions in transmons, including the role of higher-order Hamiltonian terms.

Findings

Measurement-induced transition thresholds depend on gate charge.

Higher-order harmonics are necessary for accurate theoretical predictions.

Charge stabilization allows precise characterization of ionization phenomena.

Abstract

A key challenge in achieving scalable fault tolerance in superconducting quantum processors is readout fidelity, which lags behind one- and two-qubit gate fidelity. A major limitation in improving qubit readout is measurement-induced transitions, also referred to as qubit ionization, caused by multiphoton qubit-resonator excitation occurring at specific photon numbers. Since ionization can involve highly excited states, it has been predicted that in transmons -- the most widely used superconducting qubit -- the photon number at which measurement-induced transitions occur is gate charge dependent. This dependence is expected to persist deep in the transmon regime where the qubit frequency is gate charge insensitive. We experimentally confirm this prediction by characterizing measurement-induced transitions with increasing resonator photon population while actively stabilizing the transmon's gate charge. Furthermore, because highly excited states are involved, achieving quantitative agreement between theory and experiment requires accounting for higher-order harmonics in the transmon Hamiltonian.