Company Blog

Stable Synchronization over 52 Meters and 14 Days

23.08.2023

Airbus wingspan

The Zurich Instruments Quantum Computing Control System provides reliable and precise timing synchronization out of the box. But what does reliable synchronization really mean? Here, we show results from two experiments that put the synchronization stability to a hard test. First, we synchronize two SHFQC Qubit Controllers across 52 meters synchronization distance to conduct a photon pitch-and-catch experiment on a real quantum chip. Second, we assess the long-term stability of such long-distance synchronization links for a full 14-day period.

Resonator Characterization via the Pound-Drever-Hall Method

21.08.2023

PDH Block diagram

This blog discusses methods for measuring the frequency fluctuations and quality factor, 𝑄, of a resonator. Resonators are physical systems that naturally oscillate at a well-defined frequency. At this resonant frequency, energy exchanges periodically between two forms, for example, kinetic and spring energy as in a scanning probe microscope’s cantilever...

Quantum Materials: from Characterization to Resonator Measurements - Q&A

26.06.2023

QT Webinar Physic Today

In this webinar, we discussed transport measurements on materials for quantum computing, why studying resonators accelerates development of materials used for quantum computing by yielding a wealth of information, and how to measure resonators effectively with the Pound-Drever-Hall method. The recording of the full webinar can be found here...

Subsampling Techniques for Achieving Waveform Precision in Picoseconds

11.11.2022

Oscilloscope image HDAWG subsampling

An arbitrary waveform generator (AWG) can generate pulses with a timing resolution much finer than its sampling period. Users are often unaware of this capability, yet it enables highly precise timing control in application use cases such as NV center dynamical decoupling, flux pulse width control, AWG channel deskew, and IQ mixer calibration...

How Double-Superheterodyne Compares with IQ Mixing in Qubit Experiments

08.11.2022

arXiv

Were you ever curious about how the double-superheterodyne frequency conversion compares with IQ mixing when tested on real qubits? This blog post introduces such a comparison published in a recent preprint paper by the ETH QuDev lab. One of its main results hints at double-superheterodyne enabling a higher gate fidelity and lower state leakage rate than a standard IQ mixing approach!

Synchronizing Multiple AWG Channels

09.09.2022

Pulse sheet

Does your application require multiple AWG channels with precise and stable timing synchronization? In this blog post, we will show how to achieve this with the HDAWG Arbitrary Waveform Generator for setup sizes ranging from few channels up to 144. We demonstrate 3 methods suitable for different use cases.

Qubit and Resonator Spectroscopy at the Speed Limit: Your Measurements. Faster.

23.06.2022

Qubit Spectroscopy

Getting your measurements up and running as fast as possible is a priority at Zurich Instruments. Together with one of our Application Scientists, researchers at the ETH Zurich - Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) Quantum Computing Hub were able to install the SHFQC Qubit Controller and perform qubit spectroscopy, Ramsey, and Rabi measurements on 5 qubits in parallel in half a day. The ability of our instruments to perform fast frequency sweeping was at the heart of the fast qubit tune-up procedures. Learn more in this blog post.

Quantum Technology User Meeting 2022 in Munich

23.06.2022

Participants of the QT User Meeting

Isn't the best way to learn about experimental methods by exchange with other experts in the field? In this spirit, we hosted the Quantum Technology User Meeting together with Rohde & Schwarz from 13.-15.06.2022 in Munich. If you could not join in person, take a look at this blog post - and stay tuned for the next edition.

Five Tips to Boost Your Qubit Measurements

07.06.2022

Speedup of QCCS

When operating qubits, speed and high system utilization are key to achieving rapid progress. In this blog post, you’ll find a collection of five important tips to optimize the throughput of your Zurich Instruments Quantum Computing Control System (QCCS) and perform measurements faster than ever!

Why You Should Use the SHFQC for Few-Qubit Measurements

03.06.2022

Two-qubit setup based on SHFQC

It all starts with a few qubits: a masterfully engineered few-qubit system forms the groundwork for advances in large-scale quantum computers. This blog post gives you our 5 top reasons why you should base your few-qubit setup on the Zurich Instruments SHFQC Qubit Controller.

A Fast and Integrated Qubit Control System - SHFQC Launch Event

18.03.2022

SHFQC Launch Event

On March 3rd, Jan Benhelm, Bruno Küng and I were thrilled to welcome a diverse audience from all over the world to present our newest instrument - the SHFQC Qubit Controller. In the first part of the webinar Jan explained how the SHFQC integrates a full qubit control system for...

Bell-State Stabilization of Superconducting Qubits with Real-Time Feedback

18.08.2021

The surface code which consists of a two-dimensional array of qubits

Bell-state stabilization with real-time feedback is a key milestone for the implementation of surface code [1], which is one of the most promising quantum error correction codes for building large-scale quantum computers [2]. Fundamental requirements for realizing this code are high fidelity and rapid readout of qubits, high fidelity gate...

Randomized Benchmarking in Seconds

20.05.2021

Random Benchmarking Sequence

Randomized benchmarking (RB) is a widely used tool in quantum information science to determine qubit fidelity and to characterize individual qubit gates. It is also an excellent example of a quantum experiment with advanced requirements on the control hardware and software. For an RB experiment, we apply random sequences of...

The Next Generation of Signal Generators - SHFSG Launch Event

05.05.2021

SHFSG Launch Event

On April 29th, Jan Benhelm, Mark Kasperczyk and I welcomed a crowd of customers to the interactive online event introducing Zurich Instruments’ newest product, the SHFSG Signal Generator. Our aim was to present multiple perspectives on the launch of this powerful instrument. Jan provided an overview of Zurich Instruments’ quantum...

Practical Active Qubit Reset

05.03.2021

Active Qubit Reset Setup

When working with qubits, it’s essential to have a reliable state preparation. The easiest method for superconducting qubits is to passively wait for the qubit to decay into its ground state, but it’s slow and has poor fidelity. Active qubit reset decreases considerably the initialization time, while greatly increasing the...