Intrinsic noise of the single-electron box

Abstract

The radio-frequency (rf) single-electron box is becoming an attractive charge sensor for semiconductor-based quantum computing devices due to its high sensitivity and small footprint, which facilitate the design of highly connected qubit architectures. However, an understanding of its ultimate sensitivity is missing due to the lack of a noise model. Here, we quantify the intrinsic noise of the single-electron box arising from stochastic cyclic electron tunneling between a quantum dot and a reservoir driven by a periodic gate voltage. We use both a master-equation formalism and Markov Monte Carlo simulations to calculate the gate-noise current and find that the noise mechanism can be represented as a cyclostationary process. We consider the implications of this cyclostationary noise on the ultimate sensitivity of single-electron box sensors for fast high-fidelity readout of spin qubits, in particular evaluating results for rf reflectometry implementations and the back action of the sensor on a qubit. Furthermore, we determine the conditions under which the intrinsic noise limit could be measured experimentally and techniques by which the noise can be suppressed to enhance qubit-readout fidelity.