Search

We have developed and characterized a symmetry-protected superconducting qubit that offers simultaneous exponential suppression of energy decay from charge and flux noise, and dephasing from flux noise. The qubit consists of a Cooper-pair box (CPB) shunted by a superinductor, thus forming a superconducting loop. Provided the offset charge on the CPB island is an odd number of electrons, the qubit potential corresponds to that of a $\cos \phi / 2$ Josephson element, preserving the parity of fluxons in the loop via Aharonov-Casher interference. In this regime, the logical-state wavefunctions reside in disjoint regions of phase space, thereby ensuring the protection against energy decay. By switching the protection on, we observed a ten-fold increase of the decay time, reaching up to $100 \mu \mathrm{s}$. Though the qubit is sensitive to charge noise, the sensitivity is much reduced in comparison with the charge qubit, and the charge-noise-induced dephasing time of the current device exceeds $1 \mu \mathrm{s}$. Implementation of the full dephasing protection can be achieved in the next-generation devices by combining several $\cos \phi / 2$ Josephson elements in a small array., Comment: 13 pages, 13 figures

We have designed superinductors made of strongly disordered superconductors for implementation in "hybrid" superconducting quantum circuits. The superinductors have been fabricated as meandered nanowires made of granular Aluminum films. Optimization of the device geometry enabled realization of superinductors with the inductance $\sim 1 {\mu}H$ and the self-resonance frequency over 3 GHz. These compact superinductors are attractive for a wide range of applications, from superconducting circuits for quantum computing to microwave elements of cryogenic parametric amplifiers and kinetic-inductance photon detectors., Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures; accepted manuscript, to be published in Phys. Rev. Appl

We have studied the low-energy excitations in a minimalistic protected Josephson circuit which contains two basic elements (rhombi) characterized by the $\pi$ periodicity of the Josephson energy. Novel design of these elements, which reduces their sensitivity to the offset charge fluctuations, has been employed. We have observed that the life time $T_{1}$ of the first excited state of this quantum circuit in the protected regime is increased up to $70\mu s$, a factor of $\sim100$ longer than that in the unprotected state. The quality factor $\omega_{01}T_{1}$ of this qubit exceeds $10^{6}$ . Our results are in agreement with theoretical expectations; they demonstrate the feasibility of symmetry protection in the rhombi-based qubits fabricated with existing technology., Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, Supplementary Materials

We have studied the microwave response of a single Cooper-pair transistor (CPT) coupled to a lumped-element microwave resonator. The resonance frequency of this circuit, $f_{r}$, was measured as a function of the charge $n_{g}$ induced on the CPT island by the gate electrode, and the phase difference across the CPT, $\phi_{B}$, which was controlled by the magnetic flux in the superconducting loop containing the CPT. The observed $f_{r}(n_{g},\phi_{B})$ dependences reflect the variations of the CPT Josephson inductance with $n_{g}$ and $\phi_{B}$ as well as the CPT excitation when the microwaves induce transitions between different quantum states of the CPT. The results are in excellent agreement with our simulations based on the numerical diagonalization of the circuit Hamiltonian. This agreement over the whole range of $n_{g}$ and $\phi_{B}$ is unexpected, because the relevant energies vary widely, from 0.1K to 3K. The observed strong dependence $f_{r}(n_{g},\phi_{B})$ near the resonance excitation of the CPT provides a tool for sensitive charge measurements., Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures

Phase sensitivity and thermal dephasing in coherent electron transport in quasi one-dimensional (1D) waveguide rings of an asymmetric four-terminal geometry are studied by magnetotransport measurements. We demonstrate the electrostatic control of the phase in Aharonov-Bohm (AB) resistance oscillations and investigate the impact of the measurement circuitry on decoherence. Phase rigidity is broken due to the ring geometry: Orthogonal waveguide cross-junctions and 1D leads minimize reflections and resonances between leads allowing for a continuous electron transmission phase shift. The measurement circuitry influences dephasing: Thermal averaging dominates in the non-local measurement configuration while additional influence of potential fluctuations becomes relevant in the local configuration., Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures

This paper describes the achievements made on the Advanced Solid Rocket Motor (ASRM) case insulation design and development program. The ASRM case insulation system described herein protects the metal case and joints from direct radiation and hot gas impingement. Critical failure of solid rocket systems is often traceable to failure of the insulation design. The wide ranging accomplishments included the development of a nonasbestos insulation material for ASRM that replaced the existing Redesigned Solid Rocket Motor (RSRM) asbestos-filled nitrile butadiene rubber (NBR) along with a performance gain of 300 pounds, and improved reliability of all the insulation joint designs, i.e., segmented case joint, case-to-nozzle and case-to-igniter joint. The insulation process development program included the internal stripwinding process. This process advancement allowed Aerojet to match to exceed the capability of other propulsion companies.