Cosmic muon flux attenuation methods for superconducting qubit experiments

We propose and demonstrate two practical mitigation methods to attenuate the cosmic muon flux, compatible with experiments involving superconducting qubits: shallow underground sites and device orientation. Using a specifically-built cosmic muon detector, we identify underground sites, widely presen...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Bertoldo, Elia|||0000-0001-6260-0325, Pérez Sánchez, Victor, Martínez, Maria|||0000-0002-9043-4691, Martínez Rodríguez, Manel|||0000-0002-9763-9155, Khalife, Hawraa|||0000-0003-0464-6979, Forn-Díaz, Pol|||0000-0003-4365-5157
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2025
País:España
Institución:Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Repositorio:Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ddd.uab.cat:322068
Acceso en línea:https://ddd.uab.cat/record/322068
https://dx.doi.org/urn:doi:10.1088/1367-2630/adaedc
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Quantum computing
Muons
Cosmic rays
Ionizing radiation
Superconducting qubits
Qubits
Descripción
Sumario:We propose and demonstrate two practical mitigation methods to attenuate the cosmic muon flux, compatible with experiments involving superconducting qubits: shallow underground sites and device orientation. Using a specifically-built cosmic muon detector, we identify underground sites, widely present in urban environments, where significant attenuation of cosmic muon flux, up to a factor 35 for 100 m depths, can be attained. Furthermore, we employ two germanium wafers in an above-ground laboratory, each equipped with a particle sensor, to show how the orientation of a chip with respect to the sky affects the amount and type of energy deposited on the substrate by ionizing radiation. We observe that the horizontal detector sees more counts at lower energy, while the vertical one is impacted by more particles at higher energy. The methods here described proposed ways to directly understand and reduce the effects of cosmic rays on qubits by attenuating the source of this type of decoherence, complementing existing on-chip mitigation strategies. We expect that both on-chip and off-chip methods combined will become ubiquitous in quantum technologies based on superconducting qubit circuits.