Scqubits: a Python package for superconducting qubits
Peter Groszkowski, Jens Koch
Abstract
<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"><mml:mtext mathvariant="bold">scqubits</mml:mtext></mml:mrow></mml:math> is an open-source Python package for simulating and analyzing superconducting circuits. It provides convenient routines to obtain energy spectra of common superconducting qubits, such as the transmon, fluxonium, flux, cos(2<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:mi>ϕ</mml:mi></mml:math>) and the 0-<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:mi>π</mml:mi></mml:math> qubit. <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"><mml:mtext mathvariant="bold">scqubits</mml:mtext></mml:mrow></mml:math> also features a number of options for visualizing the computed spectral data, including plots of energy levels as a function of external parameters, display of matrix elements of various operators as well as means to easily plot qubit wavefunctions. Many of these tools are not limited to single qubits, but extend to composite Hilbert spaces consisting of coupled superconducting qubits and harmonic (or weakly anharmonic) modes. The library provides an extensive suite of methods for estimating qubit coherence times due to a variety of commonly considered noise channels. While all functionality of <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"><mml:mtext mathvariant="bold">scqubits</mml:mtext></mml:mrow></mml:math> can be accessed programatically, the package also implements GUI-like widgets that, with a few clicks can help users both create relevant Python objects, as well as explore their properties through various plots. When applicable, the library harnesses the computing power of multiple cores via multiprocessing. <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"><mml:mtext mathvariant="bold">scqubits</mml:mtext></mml:mrow></mml:math> further exposes a direct interface to the Quantum Toolbox in Python (QuTiP) package, allowing the user to efficiently leverage QuTiP's proven capabilities for simulating time evolution.