High-coherence hybrid superconducting qubit

We report quantum coherence measurements of a superconducting qubit whose design is a hybrid of several existing types. Excellent coherence times are found: T2*∼T1∼1.5μs. The topology of the qubit is that of a traditional three-junction flux qubit, but it has a large shunting capacitance, and the ratio of the junction critical currents is chosen so that the qubit potential has a single-well form. The qubit has a sizable nonlinearity, but its sign is reversed compared with most other popular qubit designs. The qubit is read out dispersively using a high-Q resonator in a λ/2 configuration. © 2010 The American Physical Society.