Experiments to develop High Q and tunable superconducting coplanar resonators applicable for quantum bit technology

Measurements are made on superconducting Niobium on Sapphire and oxidized Silicon microwave coplanar resonators for quantum bit experiments. Device geometry and materials are investigated and quality factors in excess of a million have been observed. The resonant frequency as a function of temperature of a coplanar resonator is characterised in terms of the change in the number density of superconducting electrons. At lower temperatures, the resonant frequency no longer follows this function, and evidence is shown that this is associated with the resonant coupling of the resonant frequency with two level systems in the substrate. At T<2.2 K the resonant frequency scales logarithmically with the temperature, indicating that two level systems distributed in the volume of the Silicon Dioxide affect the electric permittivity. Applying higher input microwave power levels is shown to saturate these two level systems, essentially decoupling them from the CPR resonance. This is observed as an increase in resonant frequency and Q factor. The resonant frequency is also shown to have a high sensitivity to a magnetic field applied perpendicular to the plane of the coplanar resonator, with a quadratic dependence for the fundamental, second and third harmonics. Frequency shift of hundreds of linewidths are obtained. Coplanar resonator are fabricated and measured with current control lines built on chip, and these have shown to produce frequency shifts of tens of Kilohertz.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

d_ph

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

d_ph

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

University of Birmingham

Year dc:date.issued

2010

Author dc:creator

• Healey, Joanne E

• QC Physics