The QICK (Quantum Instrumentation Control Kit): Readout and control for qubits and detectors

We introduce a Xilinx RF System-on-Chip (RFSoC)-based qubit controller (called the Quantum Instrumentation Control Kit, or QICK for short), which supports the direct synthesis of control pulses with carrier frequencies of up to 6 GHz. The QICK can control multiple qubits or other quantum devices. The QICK consists of a digital board hosting an RFSoC field-programmable gate array, custom firmware, and software and an optional companion custom-designed analog front-end board. We characterize the analog performance of the system as well as its digital latency, important for quantum error correction and feedback protocols. We benchmark the controller by performing standard characterizations of a transmon qubit. We achieve an average gate fidelity of Favg=99.93%. All of the schematics, firmware, and software are open-source.& nbsp;& nbsp;Published under an exclusive license by AIP Publishing.

Automated summary

We introduce a Xilinx RFSoC-based qubit controller, called QICK, which supports direct synthesis of control pulses up to 6 GHz. The QICK can control multiple qubits or other quantum devices, with important digital latency for quantum error correction and feedback protocols. Benchmarking on a transmon qubit, an average gate fidelity of Favg=99.93% is achieved. All schematics, firmware, and software are open-source.