Galvanic Phase Coupling of Superconducting Flux Qubits

We investigate the galvanic coupling schemes of superconducting flux qubits. From the fundamental boundary conditions, we obtain the effective potential of the coupled system of two or three flux qubits to provide the exact Lagrangian of the system. While usually the two-qubit gate has been investigated approximately, in this study we derive the exact inductive coupling strength between two flux qubits coupled directly and coupled through a connecting central loop. We observe that the inductive coupling strength needs to be included exactly to satisfy the criteria of fault-tolerant quantum computing.

Preliminary demonstration of a persistent Josephson phase-slip memory cell with topological protection

Superconducting computing promises enhanced computational power in both classical and quantum approaches. Yet, scalable and fast superconducting memories are not implemented. Here, we propose a fully superconducting memory cell based on the hysteretic phase-slip transition existing in long aluminum nanowire Josephson junctions. Embraced by a superconducting ring, the memory cell codifies the logic state in the direction of the circulating persistent current, as commonly defined in flux-based superconducting memories. But, unlike the latter, the hysteresis here is a consequence of the phase-slip occurring in the long weak link and associated to the topological transition of its superconducting gap. This disentangles our memory scheme from the large-inductance constraint, thus enabling its miniaturization. Moreover, the strong activation energy for phase-slip nucleation provides a robust topological protection against stochastic phase-slips and magnetic-flux noise. These properties make the Josephson phase-slip memory a promising solution for advanced superconducting classical logic architectures or flux qubits.