CPHT colloquium

Superconducting qubits are one of the most promising platforms to implement quantum technologies. Quantum processors of tens of qubits are now available, and exciting applications with these intermediate size systems are in perspective. However, many algorithms, including all those with a proved quantum speed-up, require extremely low error rates. This will most likely require quantum error correction (QEC). Unfortunately, current QEC architectures require daunting overheads in physical qubits and control electronics. The goal of this research is to reduce this overhead, and our approach is based on two key ideas. First, we redundantly encode quantum information in Schrödinger cat states embedded in superconducting resonators. Second, we engineer non-linear dissipation to protect and manipulate this information.