Metallic Grains Decohere Superconducting Circuits
Scanning gate microscopy on live superconducting circuits links decoherence to Coulomb blockade and microwave-driven charge tunnelling in metallic grains.
TL;DR — The abstract reports that scanning gate microscopy on live superconducting circuits identifies a decoherence mechanism from Coulomb blockade and microwave-driven charge tunnelling in metallic grains. It claims these grains are ubiquitous in standard lithography-made thin-film devices and that the resulting defects are as common and debilitating as TLS defects, but physically distinct. Conventional characterization may misattribute the loss; eliminating metallic grains during fabrication is proposed as the mitigation route.
What the abstract directly supports
The abstract reports a previously unrecognized decoherence mechanism in superconducting circuits. The claimed origin is “Coulomb blockade and microwave-driven charge tunnelling in metallic grains.” The evidence described at abstract level comes from scanning gate microscopy performed on live superconducting circuits.
The abstract’s strongest claim is not merely that metallic grains can exist, but that characterized defects across different devices are “as common and as debilitating” as two-level system defects while arising from a different physical mechanism.
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