arXiv subjects

Giordano Scappucci

Publications and source records attributed to Giordano Scappucci.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Spectroscopy With Intelligent Feature Tracking for automated characterization of excited-state structure in semiconductor quantum dot devices

The characterization of excited-state structure in semiconductor quantum dot (QD) devices is an important component of tuning them for spin-qubit operation. We present Spectroscopy With Intelligent Feature Tracking (SWIFT), a framework that combines machine-learning (ML)-assisted feature identification with physics-informed geometric processing to extract energy-level splittings from pulsed-gate spectroscopy data. SWIFT isolates the relevant spectral features and exploits their characteristic geometry to reduce the two-dimensional spectroscopy analysis to a one-dimensional peak-detection problem. It further combines an ensemble-based confidence metric with sequential accumulation of rapid, low-SNR scans, allowing the inferred spectrum to be reevaluated as experimental evidence accumulates. Using Si/SiGe QD devices, we demonstrate SWIFT both offline and in real time, including automated tracking of QD excited states and lead resonances. Benchmarking on 255 manually labeled scans shows that SWIFT reduces the median splitting error to 0.05 mV from 0.11 mV for a classical baseline, with the largest improvement on lower-quality measurements. These results provide a path toward incorporating excited-state spectroscopy into autonomous QD characterization, tuning, and optimization, which will be essential in large-scale quantum dot devices.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2026

Light-Hole Spin Qubits in Strained SiGe Lattice-Matched to Ge

Strained germanium ($\varepsilon$-Ge) quantum wells on metamorphic SiGe buffers have enabled advanced hole-based spin qubit devices. Alternatively, unstrained Ge with lattice-matched strained silicon-germanium ($\varepsilon$-SiGe) barriers eliminates the need for metamorphic buffers altogether. The ground state character of both these platforms is predominantly heavy-hole (HH) with a largely anisotropic spin response. We propose and study an alternative heterostructure, lattice-matched to Ge, in which both the SiGe quantum well and barriers are tensile strained, with their composition contrast providing the band offset for confinement and the tensile strain stabilizing a light-hole (LH) ground state. We show large spin-orbit coupling (SOC), both linear and cubic, along with a significantly more isotropic spin response compared to strained HH qubits. We also study the decoherence properties of the proposed device, showing an appreciable gain in the quality factor compared to their HH counterparts. Finally, we propose a bilayer heterostructure that allows for electrical switching between HH and LH ground state character.

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arXiv2026

Observation of magnetic quantum phase crossovers in a semiconductor spin ladder

Understanding collective phases of strongly correlated quantum magnets relies on theoretically tractable model systems with precise microscopic control. Antiferromagnetic spin ladders provide such a setting, hosting field-tunable gapped and gapless phases at half filling and unconventional pairing tendencies upon doping. Here, we realize a programmable Heisenberg spin ladder in a half-filled germanium quantum dot array featuring site-resolved, continuously tunable exchange interactions. Under a fixed magnetic field, we vary the rung and leg coupling to map the rung-singlet, canted antiferromagnetic, and fully polarized phases. Hamiltonian-learning protocols combining equilibrium and dynamical measurements quantitatively characterize the ladder, incorporating spin-orbit interactions to reproduce the observed crossover behavior. Measurements of higher-order spin correlators -- including four-point correlations inaccessible to conventional bulk probes -- reveal signatures of the underlying phase structure despite the finite size. Our results establish germanium quantum dot arrays as a controllable platform for quantum magnetism, opening routes to investigate unconventional superconductivity in doped ladders.

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arXiv2026

Assessing fidelity-limiting factors and achieving single-qubit gate fidelity beyond 99.999% in driven silicon spin qubits

In semiconductor single-spin qubits, high-fidelity quantum gates have been demonstrated; however, achieving consistent performance remains challenging due to variations in driven qubit coherence, which is less explored than free-evolution coherence such as $T_2^*$. Here, we report single-qubit gate fidelities above 99.999%, achieved by dramatically extending the driven-spin coherence time and suppressing off-resonant driving effects that are detrimental to accurate fidelity benchmarking. We demonstrate that removing proximal reservoirs significantly enhances the spin-locking coherence time ($T_{1\rho}$), a critical metric for qubits under microwave driving. Furthermore, we reveal that in typical spin qubit setups using parity readout and rectangular pulses, off-resonant excitation of neighboring qubits causes substantial benchmarking artifacts. By optimizing device conditions to mitigate microwave-induced degradation and implementing spectrally tailored pulse shaping, we achieve a ${\pi}/2$ gate fidelity of 99.99920(2)%, with remaining errors primarily limited by incoherent noise. These results showcase the mechanisms that bound fidelity benchmarking in state-of-the-art silicon spin qubits and provide practical guidelines for achieving and verifying high fidelities in these systems.

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arXiv2026

Buried germanium quantum well proximitised by magnetic field-resilient superconducting platinum iridium germanosilicide

Hybrid superconductor-semiconductor systems provide a versatile platform for quantum technologies, ranging from superconducting-spin interfaces to topological quantum devices. Progress toward scalable implementations requires superconductors that exhibit high critical fields ($>1$T) at accessible temperatures integrated with low-disorder semiconductor heterostructures. Here we demonstrate a superconducting platinum iridium germanosilicide (PtIrSiGe), with critical out-of-plane magnetic field up to $B_{\perp} = 1.9$T and critical temperature of $T_c\sim 1.85$K, integrated with planar germanium with mobility $\mu = 1.3\times 10^6$cm$^{2}$/Vs via top-down lithography fabrication. We show that the integrity of the germanium quantum well and mobility and density of the 2D hole gas are preserved despite annealing at $500\deg$C, a temperature comparable to that used for strained germanium epitaxy. We further demonstrate proximitisation of a buried germanium quantum well in a gate-defined Josephson junction/SQUID on a Ge/SiGe heterostructure.

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arXiv2026

Controllable interaction between photons and distant spins via vacuum Rabi oscillations

Vacuum Rabi oscillations between a single photon and a single spin demonstrate the capability of harnessing light-matter interaction at the level of a single quantum of energy. Since the observation of strong spin-photon coupling in gate-defined quantum dots, probing this interaction in the time-domain has been a major objective. Here, we carefully engineer a device composed of two spatially separated double quantum dots hosting single electron spin qubits and a superconducting cavity to accommodate microwave photons. We observe multiple vacuum Rabi oscillations between each spin qubit and the cavity. By concatenating vacuum Rabi oscillations involving the two spins, an energy excitation in one qubit can be emitted as a photon and then transferred to the other qubit. When a single photon is emitted, the cavity is prepared in a Fock state, leading to an accelerated vacuum Rabi frequency. These results serve as building blocks not only in exploring light-matter interactions, but also in interfacing semiconductor spin qubits to photonic links.

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arXiv2026

Feedback stabilization of multi-qubit Hamiltonian parameters enabled by single-shot measurement-based sequential Monte Carlo

Fast measurement, signal processing, and accurate estimation of Hamiltonian parameters are essential for feedback control in quantum-classical interface circuitry. However, existing frequentist and Bayesian inference methods typically require a large number of measurements to achieve the accuracy needed to mitigate qubit decoherence. Consequently, feedback control of semiconductor qubits has largely been limited to single-qubit frequency stabilization, whereas two-qubit parameter stabilization remains experimentally unexplored. Here, we demonstrate a real-time feedback framework based on sequential Monte Carlo estimation using one bit of data from a single-shot measurement. Using a four-qubit semiconductor quantum dot device, we rapidly estimate individual qubit frequencies, yielding an approximately twofold increase in coherence time compared with a conventional Bayesian strategy. Moreover, sequential two-qubit parameter estimation using two bits of data enables stabilization of qubit-qubit coupling, allowing both quasi-static frequency drift and exchange-interaction noise to be estimated and suppressed. By shortening the time required for precise parameter estimation, these results demonstrate the importance of the synergistic development of classical and quantum electronics for building robust and scalable quantum technologies in fluctuating environments.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2026

A Degenerate Singlet-Triplet Qubit with All-Electrical Orthogonal Control

Singlet-triplet qubits offer an attractive encoding for semiconductor quantum computing, combining ancilla-free readout, reduced sensitivity to common-mode noise, and baseband voltage control. However, the Zeeman energy difference $\Delta E_\mathrm{Z}$ is typically fixed by local magnetic field gradients or $g$-factor inhomogeneities, leaving the exchange interaction $J$ as the only dynamically tunable parameter. This always-on $\Delta E_\mathrm{Z}$ precludes orthogonal control of the qubit's rotation axes and introduces unwanted state rotations during idling. Here we demonstrate all-electrical orthogonal control of a degenerate singlet-triplet (DST) qubit formed by two hole spins in a germanium double quantum dot. Exploiting the electrically tunable anisotropic $g$-factors of the two spins, we identify a regime where both $\Delta E_\mathrm{Z}$ and $J$ vanish, making the $S$ and $T_0$ states degenerate at the idle point. By applying only baseband voltage pulses, we independently control both $J$ and $\Delta E_\mathrm{Z}$, enabling fully orthogonal $Z$- and $X$-axis rotations. Randomized benchmarking yields an average physical single-qubit gate fidelity of 99.53\% for a gate duration of approximately 100 ns. Finally, we electrically tune the degenerate point across a wide range of magnetic field orientations, enabling operation in a regime of enhanced coherence time and offering a route towards multi-qubit scaling under a shared global magnetic field.

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arXiv2026

Confinement drives valley splitting above 4K in buried silicon quantum wells

Controlling the energy scales of a quantum system is essential for defining robust qubits. In silicon spin qubits, the nearly degenerate conduction-band valleys create a leakage channel from the single-spin computational basis, posing a challenge to scaling and to shuttling-based architectures. Here, we measure the relevant energy scales of single-electron spin qubits in buried silicon quantum wells co-designed for low disorder and high valley splitting. Across a linear array of four quantum dots with an average orbital energy of 2.4(2) meV, we report an average single-electron valley splitting of 0.40(6) meV and an average two-electron singlet-triplet splitting of 0.24(7) meV. In three dots, we observe a strong correlation between valley splitting and orbital energy, with an average linear coefficient of $\approx 0.22$ (meV/meV), demonstrating that electrostatic confinement can increase the valley splitting by several hundred microelectronvolts. In contrast, the remaining dot exhibits the highest valley splitting of 0.76(2) meV and low correlation, suggesting excellent characteristics for spin-qubit operation. Our findings demonstrate that strong confinement can be exploited in buried quantum wells to effectively enhance the valley splitting, thereby establishing a viable path toward the realization of shuttling and sparse-occupation-based architectures in low-disorder heterostructures.

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arXiv2026

Large quantum dot energy level shifts in anomalous photon-assisted tunneling

Orbital energy splittings are important quantum dot parameters for the operation of hole spin qubits. They are known to depend on the lateral confinement of the quantum dots. However, when changing top, plunger gate voltages, which are the typical control parameter for qubit applications, such energy splitting changes are typically negligible, both as measured in experiment and as assumed in effective theories. Here, we study the singlet-triplet (ST) splittings, which depend on the orbital splittings, of a double quantum dot (DQD) in a Ge/SiGe heterostructure using photon-assisted tunneling (PAT) and pulsed-gate spectroscopy. We find that the ST splittings have a surprising, strong dependence on the top gate voltages, leading to anomalous PAT measurements. We combine data from both measurements in a model that well describes the linear gate-voltage dependence of the ST splittings. Finally, we show that the ST splittings of the two dots exhibit similar linear gate-voltage dependences when the device is retuned such that their ratio is significantly different.

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arXiv2026

Singlet-triplet oscillations in multivalley Si double quantum dots

Charge separation from the $(4,0)$ to the $(3,1)$ state in a Si/SiGe double quantum dot is commonly used for initialization of spin qubits and Pauli-spin-blockade readout. It was used in recent experiments involving creation of the $(3,1)$ singlet, and subsequent shuttling of one of the electrons. We present a theoretical description of the process of charge separation and singlet-triplet mixing, arriving at expressions for the singlet return probability that take into account experimentally observed finite probabilities of the creation of singlets with various patterns of valley occupations. In our analysis we focus on magnetic fields for which the electron spin Zeeman splitting is close to the valley splitting in one of the dots, when the spin-valley coupling causes a strong renormalization of the frequency of oscillations of singlet return probability. The latter effect has been recently used to perform valley splitting mapping by shuttling of one quantum dot to various locations with respect to the other. We give a detailed description of singlet-triplet dynamics near these spin-valley resonances and compare the results of calculations with measurements on double quantum dots in two distinct Si/SiGe heterostructures. Comparison of theory with experiments in which the presence of a few valley occupation patterns is visible, gives insight into the valley dependence of $g$-factors in these structures, providing support for a recently proposed theoretical model of this dependence. We also discuss how dephasing of singlet return probability oscillations near the spin-valley resonances is affected by valley splitting fluctuations caused by electric field noise.

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arXiv2026

Tailoring Germanium Heterostructures for Quantum Devices with Machine Learning

Germanium (Ge) quantum wells are emerging as versatile platforms for quantum devices, supporting high-quality spin qubits and integration with superconducting leads. These applications benefit from strong intrinsic spin-orbit interaction (SOI), enabling efficient electrical control and engineering of spin degrees of freedom. The most advanced Ge/SiGe heterostructures to date, based on compressively strained Ge channels within strain-relaxed silicon-germanium (SiGe) barriers, exhibit weak SOI due to the heavy-hole character of the wave function, posing challenges for spin-based quantum devices and requiring complex device designs for fast qubit manipulation. In this work, we demonstrate that concrete heterostructure modifications can overcome these limitations, enhancing SOI by up to three orders of magnitude. Specifically, we propose to enrich unstrained Ge channels by localized, strained silicon spikes. Leveraging a multi-objective Bayesian optimization, we optimize the spike profile to maximize SOI, while ensuring compatibility with current epitaxial growth processes and robustness against realistic variations of growth parameters. Our heterostructure substantially enhances device performance, yielding up to two orders of magnitude higher quantum-dot spin qubit quality factors than state-of-the-art materials. We also predict GHz-scale spin splittings for hybrid superconducting Andreev spin qubits. These novel Ge heterostructures with engineered Si concentration profiles can open pathways to scalable quantum and spintronic applications.

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arXiv2026

Scaling of silicon spin qubits under correlated noise

The path to fault-tolerant quantum computing hinges on hardware that scales while remaining compatible with quantum error correction (QEC). Silicon spin qubits are a leading hardware candidate because they combine industrial fabrication compatibility with a nanoscale footprint that could accommodate millions of qubits on a chip. However, their suitability for QEC remains uncertain since spatially correlated noise naturally emerges from the resulting close proximity of qubits. These correlations increase the likelihood of simultaneous errors and erode the redundancy that QEC depends on. Here we quantify the spatial extent of noise correlations in a five-qubit silicon array and assess their impact on QEC. We identify two distinct sources of correlated noise: global magnetic field drifts that generate perfectly correlated fluctuations, and charge noise from two-level fluctuators that produces short-range correlations decaying within neighboring qubits. While magnetic drifts represent a critical correlated noise source that can compromise QEC, they can be mitigated. In contrast, the measured charge noise correlations are moderate, electrically tunable, and compatible with fault-tolerant operation with minimal qubit overhead. Our results establish quantitative benchmarks for correlated noise and clarify how such correlations impact the viability of quantum error correction in scalable qubit arrays.

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arXiv2026

Mapping g-factors and complex intervalley coupling in Si/SiGe by conveyor-mode shuttling

As silicon spin qubit chips are increasing in qubit number and area, methods for the screening of qubit related material parameters become vital. Here we demonstrate the two-dimensional mapping of small variations of the electron g-factor of quantum dots formed in planar Si/SiGe quantum wells with precision better than $10^{-3}$ and with nanometer lateral resolution. We scan the electron g-factor across a 40 nm $\times$ 400 nm area and observe two g-factors per QD site which obey a striking symmetry and bimodal distribution across the area. These two g-factors relate to valley states of the electron in the quantum dot in agreement with a recent theoretical model. Using conveyor-belt shuttling of entangled electron spin pairs, complementary to the mapping of the local valley-splitting, we map the g-factor. We compare g-factor and valley splitting maps measured on the same device, and extract the complex intervalley coupling parameter along the shuttle trajectories applying a theoretical model of g-factor dependence on intervalley coupling. These maps will allow unprecedented insights into the spin-valley dynamics during qubit manipulation, readout and shuttling and serve as a benchmark for the engineering of Si/SiGe heterostructures for large-scale quantum chips.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2026

Coherence Protection for Mobile Spin Qubits in Silicon

Mobile spin qubit architectures promise flexible connectivity for efficient quantum error correction and relaxed device layout constraints, but their viability rests on preserving spin coherence during transport. While shuttling transforms spatial disorder into time-dependent noise, its net impact on spin coherence remains an open question. Here we demonstrate systematic noise mitigation during spin shuttling in a linear $^{28}$Si/SiGe quantum dot device. First, by passively reducing magnetic field gradients, we minimize charge-noise coupling to the spin and double the spatially averaged dephasing time $T_2^*(x_n)$ from $4.4$ to $8.5\,\mu\text{s}$. Next, we exploit motional narrowing by periodically shuttling the qubit, achieving a further enhancement in coherence time up to $T_{2}^{*,sh} = 11.5\,\mu\text{s}$. Finally, we incorporate dynamical decoupling techniques while periodically shuttling over distances exceeding $200\,\text{nm}$, reaching $T_\text{2}^{H,sh}= 32\,\mu\text{s}$. For the same setup, we demonstrate that dressed-state shuttling provides robust protection against low-frequency noise with a decay time $T_R^{\text{sh}} = 21\,\mu\text{s}$, without the overhead of pulsed control and allowing protection during one-way spin transport. By preserving coherence over timescales exceeding typical gate and readout operations, the demonstrated strategies establish mobile spin qubits as a viable solution for scalable silicon quantum processors.

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arXiv2026

Weight-four parity checks with silicon spin qubits

Recent advances in coherent spin shuttling have made sparse semiconductor spin qubit arrays an appealing solid-state platform to realize quantum processors. The dynamic and long-range connectivity enabled by shuttling is also essential for many quantum error-correction (QEC) schemes. Here, we demonstrate a silicon spin-qubit device that comprises a shuttling bus for coherently transporting qubits that can interact at four isolated locations we call bus stops. We dynamically populate the array and tune all single- and two-qubit operations using shuttling and quantum non-demolition (QND) spin measurements, without access to charge sensing in most of the device. We achieve universal control of the effective five-qubit processor and select the connectivity required to form a surface-code stabilizer plaquette that supports X- and Z-type parity checks up to weight-four. We use the parity checks to generate multi-qubit entanglement between all qubit combinations in the array and report the genuine entanglement of a five-qubit Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) state, constituting the largest such state ever constructed with gate-defined semiconductor spins. This work opens immediate opportunities to pursue QEC experiments with spin qubits, and the protocols developed here lay the groundwork for the modular calibration and operation of sparse spin qubit arrays.

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arXiv2025

Towards autonomous time-calibration of large quantum-dot devices: Detection, real-time feedback, and noise spectroscopy

The performance and scalability of semiconductor quantum-dot (QD) qubits are limited by electrostatic drift and charge noise that shift operating points and destabilize qubit parameters. As systems expand to large one- and two-dimensional arrays, manual recalibration becomes impractical, creating a need for autonomous stabilization frameworks. Here, we introduce a method that uses the full network of charge-transition lines in repeatedly acquired double-quantum-dot charge stability diagrams (CSDs) as a multidimensional probe of the local electrostatic environment. By accurately tracking the motion of selected transitions in time, we detect voltage drifts, identify abrupt charge reconfigurations, and apply compensating updates to maintain stable operating conditions. We demonstrate our approach on a 10-QD device, showing robust stabilization and real-time diagnostic access to dot-specific noise processes. The high acquisition rate of radio-frequency reflectometry CSD measurements also enables time-domain noise spectroscopy, allowing the extraction of noise power spectral densities, the identification of two-level fluctuators, and the analysis of spatial noise correlations across the array. From our analysis, we find that the background noise at 100~$\mu$\si{\hertz} is dominated by drift with a power law of $1/f^2$, accompanied by a few dominant two-level fluctuators and an average linear correlation length of $(188 \pm 38)$~\si{\nano\meter} in the device. These capabilities form the basis of a scalable, autonomous calibration and characterization module for QD-based quantum processors, providing essential feedback for long-duration, high-fidelity qubit operations.

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arXiv2025

Automated electrostatic characterization of quantum dot devices in single- and bilayer heterostructures

As quantum dot (QD)-based spin qubits advance toward larger, more complex device architectures, rapid, automated device characterization and data analysis tools become critical. The orientation and spacing of transition lines in a charge stability diagram (CSD) contain a fingerprint of a QD device's capacitive environment, making these measurements useful tools for device characterization. However, manually interpreting these features is time-consuming, error-prone, and impractical at scale. Here, we present an automated protocol for extracting underlying capacitive properties from CSDs. Our method integrates machine learning, image processing, and object detection to identify and track charge transitions across large datasets without manual labeling. We demonstrate this method using experimentally measured data from a strained-germanium single-quantum-well (planar) and a strained-germanium double-quantum-well (bilayer) QD device. Unlike for planar QD devices, CSDs in bilayer germanium heterostructure exhibit a larger set of transitions, including interlayer tunneling and distinct loading lines for the vertically stacked QDs, making them a powerful testbed for automation methods. By analyzing the properties of many CSDs, we can statistically estimate physically relevant quantities, like relative lever arms and capacitive couplings. Thus, our protocol enables rapid extraction of useful, nontrivial information about QD devices.

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