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Recent experiments implicate spins on the surface of metals as the source of flux noise in superconducting quantum interference devices and indicate that these spins are able to relax without conserving total magnetization. We present a model of 1/f flux noise in which electron spins on the surface of metals can relax via hyperfine interactions. Our results indicate that flux noise would be significantly reduced in superconducting materials where the most abundant isotopes do not have nuclear moments, such as zinc and lead. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have performed extensive molecular dynamics simulations to study noise-power spectra of density and potential energy fluctuations of a Lennard-Jones model of a fluid in the supercritical region. Emanating from the liquid-vapor critical point, there is a locus of isobaric specific heat maxima, called the Widom line, which is often regarded as an extension of the liquid-vapor coexistence line. Our simulation results show that the noise-power spectrum of the density fluctuations on the Widom line of the liquid-vapor transition exhibits three distinct 1/f&ggr; behaviors with exponents &ggr; = 0, 1.2, and 2, depending on the frequency f. We find that the intermediate frequency region with an exponent &ggr; ∼ 1 appears as the temperature approaches the Widom temperature from above or below. On the other hand, we do not find three distinct regions of l/f&ggr; in the power spectrum of the potential energy fluctuations on the Widom line. Furthermore, we find that the power spectra of both the density and potential energy fluctuations at low frequency have a maximum on the Widom line, suggesting that the noise power can provide an alternative signature of the Widom line. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose that stress can decrease the internal friction of amorphous solids, either by increasing the potential barriers of defects, thus reducing their tunneling and thermal activation that produce loss, or by decreasing the coupling between defects and phonons. This stress can be from impurities, atomic bonding constraints, or externally applied stress. Externally applied stress also reduces mechanical loss through dissipation dilution. Our results are consistent with the experiments, and predict that stress could substantially reduce dielectric loss and increase the thermal conductivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a novel view of the standard model of tunneling two level systems (TLSs) to explain the puzzling universal value of a quantity, C∼3×10-4, that characterizes phonon scattering in glasses below 1 K as reflected in thermal conductivity, ultrasonic attenuation, internal friction, and the change in sound velocity. Physical considerations lead to a broad distribution of phonon-TLS couplings that (1) exponentially renormalize tunneling matrix elements, and (2) reduce the TLS density of states through TLS-TLS interactions. We find good agreement between theory and experiment for a variety of individual glasses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A major obstacle to using superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs) as qubits is flux noise. We propose that the heretofore mysterious spins producing flux noise could be O2 molecules adsorbed on the surface. Using density functional theory calculations, we find that an O2 molecule adsorbed on an a-alumina surface has a magnetic moment of ~1.8 μB. The spin is oriented perpendicular to the axis of the O-O bond, the barrier to spin rotations is about 10 mK. Monte Carlo simulations of ferromagnetically coupled, anisotropic XY spins on a square lattice find 1/f magnetization noise, consistent with flux noise in Al SQUIDs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A major obstacle to using superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs) as qubits is flux noise. We propose that the heretofore mysterious spins producing flux noise could be O_{2} molecules adsorbed on the surface. Using density functional theory calculations, we find that an O_{2} molecule adsorbed on an α-alumina surface has a magnetic moment of ~1.8 μ_{B}. The spin is oriented perpendicular to the axis of the O-O bond, the barrier to spin rotations is about 10 mK. Monte Carlo simulations of ferromagnetically coupled, anisotropic XY spins on a square lattice find 1/f magnetization noise, consistent with flux noise in Al SQUIDs.

We have performed extensive molecular dynamics simulations to study noise-power spectra of density and potential energy fluctuations of a Lennard-Jones model of a fluid in the supercritical region. Emanating from the liquid-vapor critical point, there is a locus of isobaric specific heat maxima, called the Widom line, which is often regarded as an extension of the liquid-vapor coexistence line. Our simulation results show that the noise-power spectrum of the density fluctuations on the Widom line of the liquid-vapor transition exhibits three distinct 1/f^{γ} behaviors with exponents γ=0, 1.2, and 2, depending on the frequency f. We find that the intermediate frequency region with an exponent γ∼ 1 appears as the temperature approaches the Widom temperature from above or below. On the other hand, we do not find three distinct regions of 1/f^{γ} in the power spectrum of the potential energy fluctuations on the Widom line. Furthermore, we find that the power spectra of both the density and potential energy fluctuations at low frequency have a maximum on the Widom line, suggesting that the noise power can provide an alternative signature of the Widom line.

Recent experiments implicate spins on the surface of metals as the source of flux and inductance noise in SQUIDs. We present Monte Carlo simulations of 2D and 3D Ising spin glasses that produce magnetization noise S(M) consistent with flux noise. At low frequencies S(M) is a maximum at the critical temperature T(C) in three dimensions, implying that flux noise should be a maximum at T(C). The second spectra of the magnetization noise and the noise in the susceptibility are consistent with experimentally measured SQUID inductance noise.

We present a simple microscopic model to show how fluctuating two-level systems in a Josephson junction tunnel barrier of thickness L can modify the potential energy of the barrier and produce critical current noise spectra. We find low frequency 1/f noise that goes as L5. Our values are in good agreement with recent experimental measurements of critical current noise in Al/AlOx/Al Josephson junctions. We also investigate the sensitivity of the noise on the nonuniformity of the tunnel barrier.

We propose that a maximum in measurement noise can be used as a signature of a phase transition. As an example, we study the energy and magnetization noise spectra associated with first- and second-order phase transitions by using Monte Carlo simulations of the Ising model and 5-state Potts model in two dimensions. For a finite size system, the total noise power and the low frequency white noise S(f0 and the total noise power vanishes. f(-1)(knee) is approximately the equilibration time.

Dielectric loss from two-level states is shown to be a dominant decoherence source in superconducting quantum bits. Depending on the qubit design, dielectric loss from insulating materials or the tunnel junction can lead to short coherence times. We show that a variety of microwave and qubit measurements are well modeled by loss from resonant absorption of two-level defects. Our results demonstrate that this loss can be significantly reduced by using better dielectrics and fabricating junctions of small area . With a redesigned phase qubit employing low-loss dielectrics, the energy relaxation rate has been improved by a factor of 20, opening up the possibility of multiqubit gates and algorithms.

We have performed molecular dynamics simulations on a glass-forming liquid consisting of a three-dimensional binary mixture of soft spheres. We show that a peak in the specific heat versus temperature can occur because a glassy system that shows no signs of aging progresses so slowly through the energy landscape that the minimum sampling time needed to obtain accurate thermodynamic averages exceeds the observation time. We develop a systematic technique to determine the equilibrium value of the specific heat and the minimum sampling time. Below the temperature of the specific heat peak, the minimum sampling time is orders of magnitude longer than the alpha relaxation time. We find that an equilibrium system that is not undergoing structural relaxation or aging has a frequency dependent specific heat that rises as the frequency decreases. The rise occurs at frequencies corresponding to periods that are long enough for the system to sample statistically independent energies. When the period is comparable to the minimum sampling time, the frequency dependent specific heat reaches a plateau. As a result, the specific heat has a frequency dependence at frequencies orders of magnitude lower than is implied by the inverse alpha relaxation time.

We introduce a structural quantity to probe the glass transition. This quantity is a linear generalized compressibility which depends solely on the positions of the particles. We have performed a molecular dynamics simulation on a glass-forming liquid consisting of a two-component mixture of soft spheres in three dimensions. As the temperature is lowered (or as the density is increased), the generalized compressibility drops sharply at the glass transition, with the drop becoming more and more abrupt as the measurement time increases. At our longest measurement times, the drop occurs approximately at the mode coupling temperature T(C). The drop in the linear generalized compressibility occurs at the same temperature as the peak in the specific heat. By examining the inherent structure energy as a function of temperature, we find that our results are consistent with the kinetic view of the glass transition in which the system falls out of equilibrium. We find no size dependence and no evidence for a second order phase transition, though this does not exclude the possibility of a phase transition below the observed glass transition temperature. We discuss the relation between the linear generalized compressibility and the ordinary isothermal compressibility, as well as the static structure factor.