Superconducting Qubits 101: cQED Quantum Hardware

Part of the series Superconducting Qubits 101; cited as one entry below.

A beginner lecture that builds the superconducting qubit from the ground up, starting with atomic energy levels and the classical LC circuit and moving to the quantum harmonic oscillator and the transmon as a nonlinear oscillator. It closes with a survey of quantization methods (lumped, impedance, energy-participation) and chip designs made by the community with Qiskit Metal.

• Qubits as anharmonic oscillators: atoms vs. superconducting circuits, and why cQED needs low loss, low temperature and the Josephson junction
• Classical LC circuit (charge, flux, capacitance, inductance) as the starting point for quantization
• Quantum harmonic oscillator wavefunctions, then the transmon's anharmonicity, Lamb shift and zero-point fluctuations
• Landscape of quantization methods and measured vs. predicted qubit-readout cross-Kerr, plus community designs built with Qiskit Metal

Summary and key points drafted by a language model from the slides, not yet reviewed by me. The slides are the source.

Cite

@misc{minev2026superconductingqubits101,
  author = {Zlatko K. Minev},
  title = {{Superconducting Qubits 101}},
  howpublished = {Lecture series},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://zlatko-minev.github.io/zlatko-minev-quantum-repository/series/superconducting-qubits-101/},
  note = {Slides, 7 decks, 2020--2026; given at CEC ICMC; Flagship Quantum Device Workshop (Beginner); QIQT Summer School; Qiskit Global Summer School; Quantum Device Workshop (Beginner)}
}

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