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Candidate Source of Flux Noise in SQUIDs: Adsorbed Oxygen Molecules
Hui Wang1,2, Chuntai Shi3, Jun Hu2
1State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics and Department of Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China. 2, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Irvine, California 92697-4575, USA.
Abstract:
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.
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