Quantum computing has tremendous potential to overcome some of the fundamental limitations present in classical information processing. Yet, today's technological limitations in the quality and scaling prevent exploiting its full potential. Quantum computing based on superconducting quantum processing units (QPUs) is among the most promising approaches towards practical quantum advantage. In this article the basic technological approach of IQM Quantum Computers is described covering both the QPU and the rest of the full-stack quantum computer. In particular, the focus is on a 20-qubit quantum computer featuring the Garnet QPU and its architecture, which we will scale up to 150 qubits. We also present QPU and system-level benchmarks, including a median 2-qubit gate fidelity of 99.5 Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) state.

The Lamb shift, an energy shift arising from the presence of the electromagnetic vacuum, has been observed in various quantum systems and established as the part of the energy shift independent of the environmental photon number. However, typical studies are based on simplistic bosonic models which may be challenged in practical quantum devices. We demonstrate a hybrid bosonic-fermionic environment for a linear resonator mode and observe that the photon number in the environment can dramatically increase both the dissipation and the effective Lamb shift of the mode. Our observations are quantitatively described by a first-principles model which we develop here also to guide device design for future quantum-technological applications. The device demonstrated here can be utilized as a fully rf-operated quantum-circuit refrigerator to quickly reset superconducting qubits.

The Lamb shift, an energy shift arising from the presence of the electromagnetic vacuum, has been observed in various quantum systems and established as the part of the energy shift independent of the environmental photon number. However, this argument is based on a simplistic bosonic model and may be challenged in practical quantum devices. We demonstrate a hybrid bosonic-fermionic environment for a linear resonator mode and observe that the photon number in the environment can dramatically increase both the dissipation and the Lamb shift of the mode. Our observations are quantitatively described by a first-principles model which potentially enhances the device design for future quantum technological applications. The device demonstrated here can be utilized as a fully rf-operated quantum-circuit refrigerator to quickly reset superconducting qubits.

A silicon electron pump operating at the temperature of liquid helium has demonstrated repeatable operation with sub-ppm accuracy. The pump current, approximately 168 pA, is measured by three laboratories, and the measurements agree with the expected current ef within the uncertainties which range from 0.2 ppm to 1.3 ppm. All the measurements are carried out in zero applied magnetic field, and the pump drive signal is a sine wave. The combination of simple operating conditions with high accuracy demonstrates the possibility that an electron pump can operate as a current standard in a National Measurement Institute. We also discuss other practical aspects of using the electron pump as a current standard, such as testing its robustness to changes in the control parameters, and using a rapid tuning procedure to locate the optimal operation point.

We analyze charge fluctuations in a parasitic state strongly coupled to a superconducting Josephson-junction-based charge detector. The charge dynamics of the state resembles that of electron transport in a quantum dot with two charge states, and hence we refer to it as a two-level fluctuator. By constructing the distribution of waiting times from the measured detector signal and comparing it with a waiting time theory, we extract the electron in- and out-tunneling rates for the two-level fluctuator, which are severely asymmetric.

The shift of the energy levels of a quantum system owing to broadband electromagnetic vacuum fluctuations-the Lamb shift-has been central for the development of quantum electrodynamics and for the understanding of atomic spectra1-6. Identifying the origin of small energy shifts is still important for engineered quantum systems, in light of the extreme precision required for applications such as quantum computing7,8. However, it is challenging to resolve the Lamb shift in its original broadband case in the absence of a tuneable environment. Consequently, previous observations1-5,9 in non-atomic systems are limited to environments comprising narrowband modes10-12. Here, we observe a broadband Lamb shift in high-quality superconducting resonators, a scenario also accessing static shifts inaccessible in Lamb's experiment1,2. We measure a continuous change of several megahertz in the fundamental resonator frequency by externally tuning the coupling strength to the engineered broadband environment, which is based on hybrid normal-metal-insulator-superconductor tunnel junctions13-15. Our results may lead to improved control of dissipation in high-quality engineered quantum systems and open new possibilities for studying synthetic open quantum matter16-18 using this hybrid experimental platform.

Schemes aimed at transferring individual electrons in semiconductor devices and detecting possible transfer errors have increasing importance for metrological applications. We study the coupling of a superconducting Josephson-junction-based charge detector to an electron island defined by field-effect in silicon. The flexibility of our device allows one to tune the coupling using the detector as an additional gate electrode. We study the reliability of the electron sensor in different device configurations and the suitability of various operation modes for error detection in electron pumping experiments. As a result, we obtain a charge detection bandwidth of 5.87 kHz with unity signal to noise ratio at 300 mK bath temperature.

Various applications of quantum devices call for an accurate calibration of cryogenic amplification chains. To this end, we present an experimentally feasible calibration scheme and use it to accurately measure the total gain and noise temperature of an amplification chain by employing normal-metal–insulator–superconductor (NIS) junctions. Our method is based on the radiation emitted by inelastic electron tunneling across voltage-biased NIS junctions. We derive an analytical expression that relates the generated power to the applied bias voltage which is the only control parameter of the device. After the setup has been characterized using a standard voltage reflection measurement, the total gain and the noise temperature are extracted by fitting the analytical expression to the microwave power measured at the output of the amplification chain. The 1σ uncertainty of the total gain of 51.84 dB appears to be of the order of 0.10 dB.

We report on fast tunability of an electromagnetic environment coupled to a superconducting coplanar waveguide resonator. Namely, we utilize a recently developed quantum-circuit refrigerator (QCR) to experimentally demonstrate a dynamic tunability in the total damping rate of the resonator up to almost two orders of magnitude. Based on the theory, it corresponds to a change in the internal damping rate by nearly four orders of magnitude. The control of the QCR is fully electrical, with the shortest implemented operation times in the range of 10ns. This experiment constitutes a fast active reset of a superconducting quantum circuit. In the future, a similar scheme can potentially be used to initialize superconducting quantum bits.

Superconducting microwave circuits show great potential for practical quantum technological applications such as quantum information processing. However, fast and on-demand initialization of the quantum degrees of freedom in these devices remains a challenge. Here, we experimentally implement a tunable heat sink that is potentially suitable for the initialization of superconducting qubits. Our device consists of two coupled resonators. The first resonator has a high quality factor and a fixed frequency whereas the second resonator is designed to have a low quality factor and a tunable resonance frequency. We engineer the low quality factor using an on-chip resistor and the frequency tunability using a superconducting quantum interference device. When the two resonators are in resonance, the photons in the high-quality resonator can be efficiently dissipated. We show that the corresponding loaded quality factor can be tuned from above 105 down to a few thousand at 10 GHz in good quantitative agreement with our theoretical model.