Characterization of Microwave Loss Using Multimode Superconducting Resonators

Abstract

Measuring the losses arising from different materials and interfaces is crucial to improving the coherence of superconducting quantum circuits. Although this has been of interest for a long time, current studies can either only provide bounds to those losses, or require several devices for a complete characterization. In this work, we introduce a method to measure the microwave losses of materials and interfaces with a single multimode superconducting resonator. We demonstrate a formalism for analyzing the loss sensitivity of multimode systems and discuss the design strategies of multimode resonators for material loss studies. We present two types of multimode superconducting resonators for the study of bulk superconductors: the forky whispering-gallery-mode resonator and the ellipsoidal cavity. We use these resonators to measure the surface dielectric, conductor, and seam losses of high-purity (5N5) aluminum and aluminum alloy (6061), as well as how they are affected by chemical etching, diamond turning, and thin-film coating. We find that chemical etching and diamond turning reduce both the surface dielectric and conductive losses of high-purity aluminum, but provide no appreciable improvement to the seam. Coating the surfaces of diamond-turned aluminum alloys with electron-beam-evaporated or sputtered aluminum thin films significantly reduces all three losses under study. In addition, we study the effect of chemical etching on the surface of high-purity aluminum using transmission electron microscopy and find that the chemical etching process creates a thinner and more uniform oxide layer, consistent with the observed improvement in the surface dielectric loss.

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