Understanding and characterizing flux noise in D-Wave’s superconducting circuit stack

While quantum computers in theory can solve problems exponentially faster than conventional computers, in practise they are quite challenging to build. One of the main problems facing the technology used by D-Wave, IBM, and google is the presence of flux noise. The current project aims to understand the origin of flux noise in D-Wave’s superconductor-based quantum hardware. We will measure noise using two different kinds of experiments and we will apply our recently developed theory to model our results in terms of interacting magnetic impurities on top of the wires. Our goal is to understand the microscopic origin of flux noise in order to propose better materials and devices, benefiting all quantum computer architectures based on superconducting electronics.

Faculty Supervisor:

Rogerio de Sousa

Student:

Partner:

D-Wave Quantum Inc.;Quantum Algorithms Institute

Discipline:

Physics

Sector:

Information and cultural industries

University:

University of Victoria

Program: