Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: The integration of low-loss dielectrics into superconducting circuits is of importance to the functionality of quantum computers and sensors. In this work, we fabricate and measure niobium resonators atop few-layer, epitaxial hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) grown by Molecular Beam Epitaxy on a sapphire substrate and compare against a control counterpart without hBN. We conduct radiofrequency measurements which probe the responses to power, temperature, and temporal fluctuations of two-level systems. The resonators integrating hBN maintain low dielectric loss with a low-power internal loss tangent on the order of $10^{-6}$, and demonstrate hBN can be added to the conventional superconducting qubit stack with minimal degradation of the quality factor. This research represents a first step towards a materials-driven strategy to eliminate phonon-mediated correlated errors in solid-state quantum systems, which leverages the thermal properties of 2D materials to prevent athermal phonons excited in the device substrate from transmitting across the superconductor-substrate interface. The same technique applied to quantum sensors would maximize phonon collection by blocking phonons from entering passive metal films.
Source: arXiv (Cornell University)
Authors: Christiansen-Salameh, J., Temples, D. J., Linehan, R., Sussman, S., Maille, Aloyse, Abouzahr, F., Alexis, L., Anyang, K., Bowring, D., Bratrud, G., Celi, E., Cesaní, A. H. Colón, Khatiwada, R., Molenaar, D., Peek, O., Rodriguez, A., Seidel, O., Schlom, D., Sotir, D., Uemura, S., Wu, Y., Figueroa-Feliciano, E., Baxter, D., Tian, Z.
Language: English
Subfield: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Awards: G1538770391, G17040919, Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP), G2273979535, G2376186588, G2414013413, G2917895714, G4303070870, G473123490, G473396326, G601061201, G6017181652, G6471802762, G6568212763, G661186927, NNCI: Cornell NanoScale Science and Technology Facility (CNF), G7619220232, MIP: Platform for the Accelerated Realization, Analysis, and Discovery of Interface Materials (PARADIM), G836018179, G8570346810
OpenAlex ID: W7221547981