Tutorial MQ02—Introduction to Ion Trap and Superconducting Qubits and Their Material Challenges

Ion trap and superconducting qubits are two of the most popular quantum computing platforms in academia and industry, but the performance of the qubits can be severely limited by their surrounding material quality. Surface defects, dielectric loss, anomalous heating in surface traps, unwanted coupling to spins and defects – all of these material properties influence coherence times, the time qubits retain their quantum properties, which put the ultimate limit on the ability to run algorithms in quantum computing processors.

The tutorial will overview the basics of ion trap and superconducting qubits and the history of material development for these two quantum computing platforms. The tutorial will provide good opportunities for materials scientists who want to engage in quantum information science, to learn about quantum computing devices and the ongoing challenges in the materials research for quantum computation.

8:30 am
Frederick Wellstood, Joint Quantum Institute, University of Maryland

In this tutorial, we will overview the basics of superconducting qubits and their material structures.  Key concepts related to their material properties such as coherence times will be introduced as well as the characterization methods.  The history of the superconducting qubit materials research will be reviewed as well as the current challenges with future directions.

10:00 am BREAK

10:30 am
Materials Considerations for Trapped-Ion Quantum Information Processing
John Chiaverini, Lincoln Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

This tutorial will cover the basics of ion trap qubits, why material choices matter with surface traps and how the material properties can affect the scaling of the ion trap qubits. The current challenges and future directions will be reviewed.