Excitation of quasiparticle pairs in superconducting nanodevices by 1/f noise

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Yu, Clare C., Goffage, M. C., Wang, Yifan, Alase, A., Cassidy, M. C., Coppersmith, S. N.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Yu, Clare C.
Goffage, M. C.
Wang, Yifan
Alase, A.
Cassidy, M. C.
Coppersmith, S. N.
author_facet Yu, Clare C.
Goffage, M. C.
Wang, Yifan
Alase, A.
Cassidy, M. C.
Coppersmith, S. N.
contents Superconducting nanodevices such as qubits, resonators, and photodetectors, have revolutionized our capabilities for probing and controlling quantum phenomena. Nonequilibrium quasiparticles, which are broken Cooper pairs that cause decoherence and energy loss, can limit their performance. The number of these quasiparticles is often tens of orders of magnitude greater than would be present in thermal equilibrium. Background radiation has been shown to excite quasiparticles, but quasiparticles are observed even when the devices are carefully shielded. Here we show that the high-frequency components of 1/f noise can excite quasiparticle pairs and that this mechanism is consistent with previously unexplained experimental results. We also propose new experiments that exploit this quasiparticle excitation mechanism to non-invasively characterize high-frequency charge noise as well as the locations and nature of the defects producing the noise. The proposed experiments would also investigate how this noise changes as the defects that give rise to it evolve towards thermal equilibrium.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2512_05644
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Excitation of quasiparticle pairs in superconducting nanodevices by 1/f noise
Yu, Clare C.
Goffage, M. C.
Wang, Yifan
Alase, A.
Cassidy, M. C.
Coppersmith, S. N.
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
Superconducting nanodevices such as qubits, resonators, and photodetectors, have revolutionized our capabilities for probing and controlling quantum phenomena. Nonequilibrium quasiparticles, which are broken Cooper pairs that cause decoherence and energy loss, can limit their performance. The number of these quasiparticles is often tens of orders of magnitude greater than would be present in thermal equilibrium. Background radiation has been shown to excite quasiparticles, but quasiparticles are observed even when the devices are carefully shielded. Here we show that the high-frequency components of 1/f noise can excite quasiparticle pairs and that this mechanism is consistent with previously unexplained experimental results. We also propose new experiments that exploit this quasiparticle excitation mechanism to non-invasively characterize high-frequency charge noise as well as the locations and nature of the defects producing the noise. The proposed experiments would also investigate how this noise changes as the defects that give rise to it evolve towards thermal equilibrium.
title Excitation of quasiparticle pairs in superconducting nanodevices by 1/f noise
topic Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.05644