Power-dependence measurement of the quality factor of superconducting microwave resonators at mK temperature

Abstract

We report our setup and measurement results of the quality factor Q of superconducting microwave resonators at mK temperature in a dilution refrigerator. The power dependence of the superconducting resonators' Q was measured down to the single photon level. Measurements were performed on two types of microwave resonators. First, a half-wavelength coplanar waveguide (CPW) resonator made of niobium film on an oxidized high-resistivity silicon substrate was measured. Then a rectangular box resonator made of machined superconducting aluminum alloy was measured. While the CPW chip resonator's Q value showed noticeable decrease at low microwave power, the box resonator's Q showed little power dependence. This setup is intended to perform characterization of various microwave resonators, which will serve as key components in superconducting qubit in circuit QED architecture.