English

Chip-scale superconducting quantum gravimeter combining a SQUID, a transmon, and a nanomechanical resonator

Quantum Physics 2026-05-04 v2

Abstract

Precise gravitational measurements are vital for geophysics and inertial navigation, but compact gravimeters with high measurement bandwidth remain difficult to realize. We propose and analyze a chip-scale superconducting gravimeter in which a flux-tunable transmon qubit is coupled to a high quality factor (QmQ_m) nanomechanical beam. The beam is embedded in a SQUID loop placed in parallel with the qubit's flux-tunable SQUID; gravity induced beam displacement therefore modulates the qubit frequency through the SQUID flux and is mapped onto the qubit's geometric phase. A stroboscopic readout at mechanical revival times suppresses qubit mechanics dephasing, yielding a projected sensitivity of 10210^2--103nGal/Hz10^3\,\mathrm{nGal}/\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}} with sub-millisecond interrogation times. Electrical \emph{in situ} tunability and microwave-based calibration make this architecture a practical route toward compact, high-bandwidth on-chip gravimetry.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2601.00425,
  title  = {Chip-scale superconducting quantum gravimeter combining a SQUID, a transmon, and a nanomechanical resonator},
  author = {Salman Sajad Wani and Mughees Ahmed Khan and Abrar Ahmed Naqash and Saif Al-Kuwari},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2601.00425},
  year   = {2026}
}

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