TLS loss in superconducting resonators on epitaxial hBN thin films

Abstract

The integration of low-loss dielectrics into superconducting circuits is of importance to the functionality of quantum computers and sensors. In this work, we fabricate and measure niobium resonators atop few-layer, epitaxial hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) grown by Molecular Beam Epitaxy on a sapphire substrate and compare against a control counterpart without hBN. We conduct radiofrequency measurements which probe the responses to power, temperature, and temporal fluctuations of two-level systems. The resonators integrating hBN maintain low dielectric loss with a low-power internal loss tangent on the order of 10⁻⁶, and demonstrate hBN can be added to the conventional superconducting qubit stack with minimal degradation of the quality factor. This research represents a first step towards a materials-driven strategy to eliminate phonon-mediated correlated errors in solid-state quantum systems, which leverages the thermal properties of 2D materials to prevent athermal phonons excited in the device substrate from transmitting across the superconductor-substrate interface. The same technique applied to quantum sensors would maximize phonon collection by blocking phonons from entering passive metal films.

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BibTeX RIS

BibTeX

@misc{christiansensalameh2026loss,
  title = {{TLS loss in superconducting resonators on epitaxial hBN thin films}},
  author = {J. Christiansen-Salameh and D. J. Temples and R. Linehan and S. Sussman and Aloyse Maille and F. Abouzahr and L. Alexis and K. Anyang and D. Bowring and G. Bratrud and E. Celi and A. H. Colón Cesaní and R. Khatiwada and D. Molenaar and O. Peek and A. Rodriguez and O. Seidel and D. Schlom and D. Sotir and S. Uemura and Y. Wu and E. Figueroa-Feliciano and D. Baxter and Z. Tian},
  howpublished = {arXiv},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.12556},
  eprint = {2610.12556},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv},
  url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.12556},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}

RIS

TY  - UNPB
TI  - TLS loss in superconducting resonators on epitaxial hBN thin films
AU  - J. Christiansen-Salameh
AU  - D. J. Temples
AU  - R. Linehan
AU  - S. Sussman
AU  - Aloyse Maille
AU  - F. Abouzahr
AU  - L. Alexis
AU  - K. Anyang
AU  - D. Bowring
AU  - G. Bratrud
AU  - E. Celi
AU  - A. H. Colón Cesaní
AU  - R. Khatiwada
AU  - D. Molenaar
AU  - O. Peek
AU  - A. Rodriguez
AU  - O. Seidel
AU  - D. Schlom
AU  - D. Sotir
AU  - S. Uemura
AU  - Y. Wu
AU  - E. Figueroa-Feliciano
AU  - D. Baxter
AU  - Z. Tian
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/08
PB  - arXiv
DO  - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.12556
UR  - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.12556
AB  - The integration of low-loss dielectrics into superconducting circuits is of importance to the functionality of quantum computers and sensors. In this work, we fabricate and measure niobium resonators atop few-layer, epitaxial hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) grown by Molecular Beam Epitaxy on a sapphire substrate and compare against a control counterpart without hBN. We conduct radiofrequency measurements which probe the responses to power, temperature, and temporal fluctuations of two-level systems. The resonators integrating hBN maintain low dielectric loss with a low-power internal loss tangent on the order of 10^−6, and demonstrate hBN can be added to the conventional superconducting qubit stack with minimal degradation of the quality factor. This research represents a first step towards a materials-driven strategy to eliminate phonon-mediated correlated errors in solid-state quantum systems, which leverages the thermal properties of 2D materials to prevent athermal phonons excited in the device substrate from transmitting across the superconductor-substrate interface. The same technique applied to quantum sensors would maximize phonon collection by blocking phonons from entering passive metal films.
ER  -

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