English

Systematic Characterization of Transmon Qubit Stability with Thermal Cycling

Quantum Physics 2026-03-06 v1

Abstract

The temporal stability and reproducibility of qubit parameters are critical for the long-term operation and maintenance of superconducting quantum processors. In this work, we present a comprehensive longitudinal characterization of 27 frequency-tunable transmon qubits spanning over one year across four thermal cycles. Our results establish a distinct hierarchy of stability for superconducting hardware. We find that the intrinsic device parameters determining the qubit frequency and the baseline energy relaxation times (T1T_1) exhibit high robustness against thermal stress, characterized by frequency deviations typically confined within 0.5\% and non-degraded coherence baselines. In stark contrast, the environmental variables, specifically the background magnetic flux offsets and the microscopic landscape of two-level system (TLS) defects, undergo a significant stochastic reconfiguration after each cycle. By employing frequency-dependent relaxation spectroscopy and a quantitative metric, the T1T_1 Spectral Topography Fidelity, we demonstrate that thermal cycling acts as a ``hard reset'' for the local defect environment. This process introduces a level of spectral randomization equivalent to thousands of hours of continuous low-temperature evolution. These findings confirm that while the fabrication quality is preserved, the specific noise realization is statistically distinct for each thermal cycle, necessitating automated recalibration strategies for large-scale quantum systems.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2602.07522,
  title  = {Systematic Characterization of Transmon Qubit Stability with Thermal Cycling},
  author = {Cong Li and Zhaohua Yang and Xinfang Zhang and Zhihao Wu and Shichuan Xue and Mingtang Deng},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2602.07522},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

7 pages, 4 figures