Decoherence of a superconducting qubit due to bias noise

Abstract

We calculate for the current-biased Josephson junction the decoherence of the qubit state from noise and dissipation. The effect of dissipation can be entirely accounted for through a semiclassical noise model that appropriately includes the effect of zero-point and thermal fluctuations from dissipation. The magnitude and frequency dependence of this dissipation can be fully evaluated with this model to obtain design constraints for small decoherence. We also calculate decoherence from spin echo and Rabi control sequences and show they are much less sensitive to low-frequency noise than for a Ramsey sequence. We predict small decoherence rates from $1/f$ noise of charge, critical current, and flux based on noise measurements in prior experiments. Our results indicate this system is a good candidate for a solid-state quantum computer.