Low-leakage superconducting-qubit measurement with sub-100-ns total duration

Abstract

Fast, accurate, and low-leakage qubit measurement is a key requirement for quantum error correction. Here, we demonstrate measurement of a superconducting transmon qubit with a total duration of 97(1) ns, defined as the time from the start of the measurement pulse until the measurement-induced error on a subsequent $π$-pulse operation falls below $10^{-4}$. By combining a large state-averaged resonator decay rate of $κ_\mathrm{eff}/2π$ = 30.8 MHz with a dispersive shift close to the optimal SNR-per-photon condition, we achieve an assignment error of 0.17(1)% using a 58-ns measurement pulse, with residual readout photons depleting passively in tens of nanoseconds without an active depletion pulse. Using a repeated-measurement sequence together with a leakage-sensitive measurement, we benchmark the measurement-induced state transitions, finding a per-measurement leakage rate of $2.7(2) \times 10^{-5}$, only twice the background rate and two orders of magnitude below the measurement-induced relaxation rate, which dominates the assignment error. Floquet simulations indicate that the multiphoton resonances present at the operating point are weakly coupled and traversed diabatically, without causing leakage. These results demonstrate that a large resonator decay rate, combined with a dispersive shift close to the optimal SNR-per-photon condition, can enable fast, high-fidelity, low-leakage dispersive readout at small qubit-resonator detuning.