Tunable Superconducting Quantum Interference Device Coupler for Fluxonium Qubits

TL;DR

This paper proposes a grounded dc SQUID-based tunable coupler for fluxonium qubits, achieving high-fidelity two-qubit gates with minimal crosstalk and rapid operation within 6 nanoseconds.

Contribution

It introduces a grounded fluxonium design with a shunting capacitor to suppress static ZZ crosstalk and demonstrates fast, high-fidelity two-qubit gate schemes.

Findings

Grounded fluxonium design reduces static ZZ crosstalk.

Fast two-qubit gates with 99.9% fidelity predicted within 6 ns.

Comparison shows floating design has problematic hybridization.

Abstract

Tunable couplers enable high-fidelity two-qubit gates leveraging high on/off coupling ratios and reduced crosstalk within a single design. We investigate a galvanically connected direct-current superconducting quantum interference device (dc SQUID) as a minimal tunable coupling element for fluxonium qubits. Comparing grounded and floating fluxonium designs, we find that the latter contains an extra sloshing mode that strongly hybridizes with the qubit modes, leading to significant static ZZ crosstalk. In contrast, the grounded design avoids this issue and allows suppression of static ZZ crosstalk using a shunting capacitor. Leveraging fast flux control, we present two schemes to implement two-qubit gates, predicting a $\sqrt{i\text{SWAP}}$-like gate with $99.9\%$ open-system fidelity in less than 6 nanoseconds assuming modest relaxation and dephasing rates.