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  • Open Access

Phonon-induced frequency shift in semiconductor spin qubits

Irina Heinz1,2,3,*, Jeroen Danon4, and Guido Burkard1,†

  • *Contact author: i.heinz@fz-juelich.de
  • †Contact author: guido.burkard@uni-konstanz.de
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Phys. Rev. B 114, 045304 – Published 10 July, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/7wp1-zgs7

Abstract

Spin qubits are a promising platform for quantum computation and can operate at temperatures ranging from tens of millikelvin to a few kelvin. Some recent experiments have revealed a nontrivial, often nonmonotonic dependence of the qubit frequency on temperature, including regions of reduced temperature sensitivity. Motivated by these observations, we investigate whether the interaction of a spin qubit with phonons of the host material can contribute to such frequency shifts in the low-temperature regime. While the resulting shifts are too small to quantitatively account for the experimentally observed magnitudes, our analysis reproduces several qualitative features, including nonmonotonic temperature dependencies and sign changes of the frequency shift. More generally, we demonstrate that phonons can induce a temperature-dependent renormalization of the qubit frequency and provide insight into the interaction between spin qubits and their host material. Understanding and quantifying such individual contributions is an important step toward identifying the microscopic mechanisms underlying the experimentally observed temperature dependence of spin-qubit frequencies.

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Outline

Information

Phys. Rev. B 114, 045304– Published 10 July, 2026
  • Received 28 November 2025
  • Revised 23 June 2026
  • Accepted 25 June 2026
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