- Physical Review Journals
All JournalsPhysics Magazine

Physical Review Research

Reuse & Permissions

It is not necessary to obtain permission to reuse this article or its components as it is available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI are maintained. Please note that some figures may have been included with permission from other third parties. It is your responsibility to obtain the proper permission from the rights holder directly for these figures.

Export citation

Export citation

Choose format for download:

Download Citation
  • Open Access

Noise-driven quantum-circuit refrigeration

Heidi Kivijärvi1,*, Arto Viitanen1, Timm Mörstedt1, and Mikko Möttönen1,2

  • *Contact author: heidi.kivijarvi@aalto.fi
PDF

Phys. Rev. Research 8, 023144 – Published 11 May, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/bpsd-r79j

Abstract

We use a transmon qubit and its dispersively coupled readout resonator to measure the Fock state populations of another microwave resonator, to which we have attached a quantum-circuit refrigerator (QCR). First, we apply noise generated at room temperature to the resonator and show that such noise drive leads to a thermal distribution of the resonator Fock states. Subsequently, we detune the noise frequency band far away from the resonance condition and vary the power of the noise applied on the QCR. We observe that such artificial thermal noise may lead to major damping of a coherent state of the resonator. Importantly, we also demonstrate that the effective temperature of a thermal resonator state can be reduced from roughly 300 to 130 mK by the introduction of the artificial thermal noise. These observations pave the way for a purely thermally powered quantum-circuit refrigerator that may unlock the use of waste heat in resetting superconducting qubits in a quantum processor and in building autonomous quantum heat engines.

View figure in article

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Article Text

References (57)

  1. A. Blais, A. L. Grimsmo, S. M. Girvin, and A. Wallraff, Circuit quantum electrodynamics, Rev. Mod. Phys. 93, 025005 (2021).
  2. P. Krantz, M. Kjaergaard, F. Yan, T. P. Orlando, S. Gustavsson, and W. D. Oliver, A quantum engineer’s guide to superconducting qubits, Appl. Phys. Rev. 6, 021318 (2019).
  3. H. L. Huang, D. Wu, D. Fan, and X. Zhu, Superconducting quantum computing: A review, Sci. China Inf. Sci. 63, 180501 (2020).
  4. M. Kjaergaard, M. E. Schwartz, J. Braumüller, P. Krantz, J.  I.-J. Wang, S. Gustavsson, and W. D. Oliver, Superconducting qubits: Current state of play, Annu. Rev. Condens. Matter Phys. 11, 369 (2020).
  5. R. Barends et al., Superconducting quantum circuits at the surface code threshold for fault tolerance, Nature (London) 508, 500 (2014).
  6. A. M. Gunyhó, S. Kundu, J. Ma, W. Liu, S. Niemelä, G. Catto, V. Vadimov, V. Vesterinen, P. Singh, Q. Chen, and M. Möttönen, Single-shot readout of a superconducting qubit using a thermal detector, Nat. Electron. 7, 288 (2024).
  7. Y. Sunada, S. Kono, J. Ilves, S. Tamate, T. Sugiyama, Y. Tabuchi, and Y. Nakamura, Fast readout and reset of a superconducting qubit coupled to a resonator with an intrinsic Purcell filter, Phys. Rev. Appl. 17, 044016 (2022).
  8. K. Geerlings, Z. Leghtas, I. M. Pop, S. Shankar, L. Frunzio, R. J. Schoelkopf, M. Mirrahimi, and M. H. Devoret, Demonstrating a driven reset protocol for a superconducting qubit, Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 120501 (2013).
  9. P. Magnard, P. Kurpiers, B. Royer, T. Walter, J.-C. Besse, S. Gasparinetti, M. Pechal, J. Heinsoo, S. Storz, A. Blais, and A. Wallraff, Fast and unconditional all-microwave reset of a superconducting qubit, Phys. Rev. Lett. 121, 060502 (2018).
  10. F. Arute et al., Quantum supremacy using a programmable superconducting processor, Nature (London) 574, 505 (2019).
  11. Y. Kim, A. Eddins, S. Anand, K. X. Wei, E. van den Berg, S. Rosenblatt, H. Nayfeh, Y. Wu, M. Zaletel, K. Temme, and A. Kandala, Evidence for the utility of quantum computing before fault tolerance, Nature (London) 618, 500 (2023).
  12. O. Ezratty, Perspective on superconducting qubit quantum computing, Eur. Phys. J. A 59, 94 (2023).
  13. S. Krinner, S. Storz, P. Kurpiers, P. Magnard, J. Heinsoo, R. Keller, J. Lütolf, C. Eichler, and A. Wallraff, Engineering cryogenic setups for 100-qubit scale superconducting circuit systems, EPJ Quantum Technol. 6, 2 (2019).
  14. P. A. Spring, L. Milanovic, Y. Sunada, S. Wang, A. F. V. Loo, S. Tamate, and Y. Nakamura, Fast multiplexed superconducting-qubit readout with intrinsic Purcell filtering using a multiconductor transmission line, PRX Quantum 6, 020345 (2025).
  15. C. Wang, F.-M. Liu, H. Chen, Y.-F. Du, C. Ying, J.-W. Wang, Y.-H. Huo, C.-Z. Peng, X. Zhu, M.-C. Chen, C.-Y. Lu, and J.-W. Pan, 99.9%-fidelity in measuring a superconducting qubit, Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 060803 (2025).
  16. A. Somoroff, Q. Ficheux, R. A. Mencia, H. Xiong, R. Kuzmin, and V. E. Manucharyan, Millisecond coherence in a superconducting qubit, Phys. Rev. Lett. 130, 267001 (2023).
  17. M. Tuokkola, Y. Sunada, H. Kivijärvi, J. Albanese, L. Grönberg, J.-P. Kaikkonen, V. Vesterinen, J. Govenius, and M. Möttönen, Methods to achieve near-millisecond energy relaxation and dephasing times for a superconducting transmon qubit, Nat. Commun. 16, 5421 (2025).
  18. C. G. Almudever, L. Lao, X. Fu, N. Khammassi, I. Ashraf, D. Iorga, S. Varsamopoulos, C. Eichler, A. Wallraff, L. Geck, A. Kruth, J. Knoch, H. Bluhm, and K. Bertels, The engineering challenges in quantum computing, in Design, Automation & Test in Europe Conference & Exhibition (DATE) (IEEE, Switzerland, 2017), pp. 836–845.
  19. J. P. Pekola and F. W. Hekking, Normal-metal-superconductor tunnel junction as a Brownian refrigerator, Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 210604 (2007).
  20. J. V. Koski, V. F. Maisi, J. P. Pekola, and D. V. Averin, Experimental realization of a Szilard engine with a single electron, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 111, 13786 (2014).
  21. N. Cottet, S. Jezouin, L. Bretheau, P. Campagne-Ibarcq, Q. Ficheux, J. Anders, A. Auffèves, R. Azouit, P. Rouchon, and B. Huard, Observing a quantum Maxwell demon at work, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 114, 7561 (2017).
  22. J. B. Brask, G. Haack, N. Brunner, and M. Huber, Autonomous quantum thermal machine for generating steady-state entanglement, New J. Phys. 17, 113029 (2015).
  23. M. Rasola and M. Möttönen, Autonomous quantum heat engine based on non-Markovian dynamics of an optomechanical Hamiltonian, Sci. Rep. 14, 9448 (2024).
  24. G. Marchegiani, P. Virtanen, and F. Giazotto, On-chip cooling by heating with superconducting tunnel junctions, Europhys. Lett. 124, 48005 (2018).
  25. M. A. Aamir, P. J. Suria, J. A. M. Guzmán, C. Castillo-Moreno, J. M. Epstein, N. Y. Halpern, and S. Gasparinetti, Thermally driven quantum refrigerator autonomously resets a superconducting qubit, Nat. Phys. 21, 318 (2025).
  26. S. Sundelin, M. A. Aamir, V. M. Kulkarni, C. Castillo-Moreno, and S. Gasparinetti, Quantum refrigeration powered by noise in a superconducting circuit, Nat. Commun. 17, 359 (2026).
  27. H. Nyquist, Thermal agitation of electric charge in conductors, Phys. Rev. 32, 110 (1928).
  28. D. M. Pozar, Microwave Engineering, 4th ed. (John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, 2012), pp. 498–501.
  29. K. Y. Tan, M. Partanen, R. E. Lake, J. Govenius, S. Masuda, and M. Möttönen, Quantum-circuit refrigerator, Nat. Commun. 8, 15189 (2017).
  30. M. Silveri, H. Grabert, S. Masuda, K. Y. Tan, and M. Möttönen, Theory of quantum-circuit refrigeration by photon-assisted electron tunneling, Phys. Rev. B 96, 094524 (2017).
  31. V. Vadimov, A. Viitanen, T. Mörstedt, T. Ala-Nissila, and M. Möttönen, Single-junction quantum-circuit refrigerator, AIP Adv. 12, 075005 (2022).
  32. M. Silveri, S. Masuda, V. Sevriuk, K. Y. Tan, M. Jenei, E. Hyyppä, F. Hassler, M. Partanen, J. Goetz, R. E. Lake, L. Grönberg, and M. Möttönen, Broadband Lamb shift in an engineered quantum system, Nat. Phys. 15, 533 (2019).
  33. V. A. Sevriuk, K. Y. Tan, E. Hyyppä, M. Silveri, M. Partanen, M. Jenei, S. Masuda, J. Goetz, V. Vesterinen, L. Grönberg, and M. Möttönen, Fast control of dissipation in a superconducting resonator, Appl. Phys. Lett. 115, 082601 (2019).
  34. A. Viitanen, M. Silveri, M. Jenei, V. Sevriuk, K. Y. Tan, M. Partanen, J. Goetz, L. Grönberg, V. Vadimov, V. Lahtinen, and M. Möttönen, Photon-number-dependent effective Lamb shift, Phys. Rev. Res. 3, 033126 (2021).
  35. A. Viitanen, T. Mörstedt, W. S. Teixeira, M. Tiiri, J. Räbinä, M. Silveri, and M. Möttönen, Quantum-circuit refrigeration of a superconducting microwave resonator well below a single quantum, Phys. Rev. Res. 6, 023262 (2024).
  36. S. Masuda, K. Y. Tan, M. Partanen, R. E. Lake, J. Govenius, M. Silveri, H. Grabert, and M. Möttönen, Observation of microwave absorption and emission from incoherent electron tunneling through a normal-metal-insulator-superconductor junction, Sci. Rep. 8, 3966 (2018).
  37. T. Mörstedt, W. S. Teixeira, A. Viitanen, H. Kivijärvi, M. Tiiri, M. Rasola, A. M. Gunyho, S. Kundu, L. Lattier, V. Vadimov, G. Catelani, V. Sevriuk, J. Heinsoo, J. Räbinä, J. Ankerhold, and M. Möttönen, Rapid on-demand generation of thermal states in superconducting quantum circuits, Phys. Rev. Res. 7, L042010 (2025).
  38. T. Uusnäkki, T. Mörstedt, W. Teixeira, M. Rasola, and M. Möttönen, Experimental realization of a quantum heat engine based on dissipation-engineered superconducting circuits, arXiv:2502.20143.
  39. V. A. Sevriuk, W. Liu, J. Rönkkö, H. Hsu, F. Marxer, T. F. Mörstedt, M. Partanen, J. Räbinä, M. Venkatesh, J. Hotari, L. Grönberg, J. Heinsoo, J. Tuorila, K. W. Chan, J. Hassel, K. Y. Tan, and M. Möttönen, Initial experimental results on a superconducting-qubit reset based on photon-assisted quasiparticle tunneling, Appl. Phys. Lett. 121, 234002 (2022).
  40. T. Yoshioka, H. Mukai, A. Tomonaga, S. Takada, Y. Okazaki, N.-H. Kaneko, S. Nakamura, and J.-S. Tsai, Active initialization experiment of a superconducting qubit using a quantum circuit refrigerator, Phys. Rev. Appl. 20, 044077 (2023).
  41. W. Teixeira, T. Mörstedt, A. Viitanen, H. Kivijärvi, A. Gunyhó, M. Tiiri, S. Kundu, A. Sah, V. Vadimov, and M. Möttönen, Many-excitation removal of a transmon qubit using a single-junction quantum-circuit refrigerator and a two-tone microwave drive, Sci. Rep. 14, 13755 (2024).
  42. H. Hsu, M. Silveri, V. Sevriuk, M. Möttönen, and G. Catelani, Charge dynamics in quantum-circuit refrigeration: Thermalization and microwave gain, AVS Quantum Sci. 3, 042001 (2021).
  43. T. F. Mörstedt, A. Viitanen, V. Vadimov, V. Sevriuk, M. Partanen, E. Hyyppä, G. Catelani, M. Silveri, K. Y. Tan, and M. Möttönen, Recent developments in quantum-circuit refrigeration, Ann. Phys. (NY) 534, 2100543 (2022).
  44. H. Hsu, M. Silveri, A. Gunyhó, J. Goetz, G. Catelani, and M. Möttönen, Tunable refrigerator for nonlinear quantum electric circuits, Phys. Rev. B 101, 235422 (2020).
  45. J. A. M. Guzmán, P. Erker, S. Gasparinetti, M. Huber, and N. Y. Halpern, Key issues review: Useful autonomous quantum machines, Rep. Prog. Phys. 87, 122001 (2024).
  46. P. Erker, M. T. Mitchison, R. Silva, M. P. Woods, N. Brunner, and M. Huber, Autonomous quantum clocks: Does thermodynamics limit our ability to measure time? Phys. Rev. X 7, 031022 (2017).
  47. S. Bhattacharjee and A. Dutta, Quantum thermal machines and batteries, Eur. Phys. J. B 94, 239 (2021).
  48. P. P. Hofer, J. B. Brask, M. Perarnau-Llobet, and N. Brunner, Quantum thermal machine as a thermometer, Phys. Rev. Lett. 119, 090603 (2017).
  49. N. M. Myers, O. Abah, and S. Deffner, Quantum thermodynamic devices: From theoretical proposals to experimental reality, AVS Quantum Sci. 4, 027101 (2022).
  50. D. I. Schuster, A. A. Houck, J. A. Schreier, A. Wallraff, J. M. Gambetta, A. Blais, L. Frunzio, J. Majer, B. Johnson, M. H. Devoret, S. M. Girvin, and R. J. Schoelkopf, Resolving photon number states in a superconducting circuit, Nature (London) 445, 515 (2007).
  51. F. Giazotto, T. T. Heikkilä, A. Luukanen, A. M. Savin, and J. P. Pekola, Opportunities for mesoscopics in thermometry and refrigeration: Physics and applications, Rev. Mod. Phys. 78, 217 (2006).
  52. X. Zhang, P. J. Lowell, B. L. Wilson, G. C. O’Neil, and J. N. Ullom, Macroscopic subkelvin refrigerator employing superconducting tunnel junctions, Phys. Rev. Appl. 4, 024006 (2015).
  53. J. P. Pekola, F. Giazotto, and O.-P. Saira, Radio-frequency single-electron refrigerator, Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 037201 (2007).
  54. O.-P. Saira, M. Meschke, F. Giazotto, A. M. Savin, M. Möttönen, and J. P. Pekola, Heat transistor: Demonstration of gate-controlled electronic refrigeration, Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 027203 (2007).
  55. J. Gambetta, A. Blais, D. I. Schuster, A. Wallraff, L. Frunzio, J. Majer, M. H. Devoret, S. M. Girvin, and R. J. Schoelkopf, Qubit-photon interactions in a cavity: Measurement-induced dephasing and number splitting, Phys. Rev. A 74, 042318 (2006).
  56. R. C. Dynes, V. Narayanamurti, and J. P. Garno, Direct measurement of quasiparticle-lifetime broadening in a strong-coupled superconductor, Phys. Rev. Lett. 41, 1509 (1978).
  57. H. Kivijärvi, A. Viitanen, T. Mörstedt, and M. Möttönen, Data for “Noise-driven quantum-circuit refrigeration” [Dataset], Zenodo (2026), https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19567499.

Outline

Information

Phys. Rev. Research 8, 023144– Published 11 May, 2026
  • Received 8 December 2024
  • Accepted 12 April 2026
Crossmark - Check for updates button
Creative Commons Logo

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

Published by the American Physical Society

Sign In to Your Journals Account

Filter

Filter

Article Lookup

Enter a citation