https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-023-11199-2
Regular Article - Experimental Physics
Disentangling the sources of ionizing radiation in superconducting qubits
1
INFN, Sezione di Roma, P.le Aldo Moro 2, 00185, Rome, Italy
2
Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto di Nanotecnologia, c/o Dip. Fisica, Sapienza Università di Roma, 00185, Rome, Italy
3
Gran Sasso Science Institute, 67100, L’Aquila, Italy
4
INFN, Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, 67100, Assergi, AQ, Italy
5
Department of Physics and Engineering Physics Astronomy, Queen’s University Kingston, K7L 3N6, Ontario, KIN, Canada
6
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, 60510, Batavia, IL, USA
7
Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Milano-Bicocca, 20126, Milan, Italy
8
INFN, Sezione di Milano-Bicocca, 20126, Milan, Italy
9
Rigetti Computing, 2919 Seventh Street, 94710, Berkeley, CA, USA
10
National Institute of Standards and Technology, 80305, Boulder, CO, USA
11
Department of Physics, University of Colorado, 80309, Boulder, CO, USA
12
Department of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder, 80309, Boulder, CO, USA
13
Dipartimento di Fisica, Sapienza Università di Roma, P.le Aldo Moro 2, 00185, Rome, Italy
14
Physics Department, University of Florida, Gainesville, USA
15
Center for Applied Physics and Superconducting Technologies, Northwestern University, 60208, Evanston, IL, USA
Received:
29
November
2022
Accepted:
4
January
2023
Published online:
31
January
2023
Radioactivity was recently discovered as a source of decoherence and correlated errors for the real-world implementation of superconducting quantum processors. In this work, we measure levels of radioactivity present in a typical laboratory environment (from muons, neutrons, and 
-rays emitted by naturally occurring radioactive isotopes) and in the most commonly used materials for the assembly and operation of state-of-the-art superconducting qubits. We present a GEANT-4 based simulation to predict the rate of impacts and the amount of energy released in a qubit chip from each of the mentioned sources. We finally propose mitigation strategies for the operation of next-generation qubits in a radio-pure environment.
Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-023-11199-2.
© The Author(s) 2023
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Funded by SCOAP3. SCOAP3 supports the goals of the International Year of Basic Sciences for Sustainable Development.
