Fluxonium Qubits with Will Oliver
In this episode of The New Quantum Era, host Sebastian Hassinger interviews Professor Will Oliver from MIT about the advancements in fluxonium qubits. The discussion delves into the unique features of fluxonium qubits compared to traditional transmon qubits, highlighting their potential for high fidelity operations and scalability. Oliver shares insights from recent experiments at MIT, where his team achieved nearly five nines fidelity in single-qubit gates, and discusses how these qubits could be scaled up for larger quantum computing architectures through innovative control systems.
Major Points Covered:
- Fluxonium vs. Transmon Qubits: Fluxonium qubits have a double-well potential, unlike the harmonic oscillator-like potential of transmon qubits. This design allows for high anharmonicity, which is beneficial for reducing leakage to higher energy levels during operations.
- High Fidelity Operations: The MIT team achieved high fidelity in both single and two-qubit gates using fluxonium qubits. For single qubits, they reached nearly five nines fidelity, and for two-qubit gates, they achieved fidelities around 99.92%.
- Scalability and Cost Reduction: Fluxonium qubits operate at lower frequencies, which could enable the integration of control electronics at cryogenic temperatures, reducing costs and increasing scalability. This approach is being developed by Atlantic Quantum, a startup spun out of Oliver's research group
- Future Directions: The goal is to implement surface code error correction with fluxonium qubits, which could lead to efficient production of logical qubits due to their high fidelity operations
This episode brought to you with support from APS and from Quantum Machines, a big thank you to both organizations!
Creators and Guests
Composer
Omar Costa Hamido
OCH is a performer, composer, and technologist, working primarily in multimedia and improvisation. His current research is on quantum computing and music composition, telematics, and multimedia. He is passionate about emerging technology, cinema, teaching, and performing new works. He earned his PhD in Integrated Composition, Improvisation and Technology at University of California, Irvine with his research project Adventures in Quantumland (quantumland.art). He also earned his MA in Music Theory and Composition at ESMAE-IPP Portugal with his research on the relations between music and painting. In recent years, his work has been recognized with grants and awards from MSCA, Fulbright, Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Medici, Beall Center for Art+Technology, and IBM.
Guest
Will Oliver
William D. Oliver is a Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Professor of Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.