Fully microwave-tunable universal gates in superconducting qubits with linear couplings and fixed transition frequencies

Abstract

A register of quantum bits with fixed transition frequencies and weakly coupled to one another through simple linear circuit elements is an experimentally minimal architecture for a small-scale superconducting quantum information processor. Presently, the known schemes for implementing two-qubit gates in this system require microwave signals having amplitudes and frequencies precisely tuned to meet a resonance condition, leaving only the signal phases as free experimentally adjustable parameters. Here, we report a minimal and robust microwave scheme to generate fast, tunable universal two-qubit gates: simply irradiate one qubit (the ``control'') at the transition frequency of another (the ``target''). The effective coupling between them is then switched on by tuning only the frequency of this single drive tone; the drive amplitude adjusts the effective coupling strength; and the drive phase selects the particular two-qubit gate implemented. This cross-resonance effect turns on linearly with the ratio of the drive amplitude $\ensuremath{\Omega}$ to the qubit-qubit detuning $\ensuremath{\Delta}$, as compared with earlier proposals that turn on as ${(\ensuremath{\Omega}/\ensuremath{\Delta})}^{4}$.