Speaker
Description
The effects of long-lived, unstable radon daughters that ``plate-out" on surfaces are well known to the fields of dark matter direct detection and rare-event searches. This plate-out produces a localized source of ionizing radiation ($\alpha$-rays and recoils of heavy nuclei) extending from the material surface to a few microns into the bulk. In recent studies, ionizing radiation in the form of $\gamma$ and cosmic rays has been shown to induce decoherence via quasiparticle poisoning in superconducting qubits. However, energy depositions from heavier particles, such as the $\alpha$-rays and heavy ions arising from radon daughter decays, originating within the qubit itself have not been extensively explored in the QIS community. Advances in quantum computing will require large arrays of superconducting qubits, providing massively increased surface area on which plate-out can occur. We present a setup capable of accelerating and enhancing radon daughter plateout in order to study, \textit{in situ}, the impact of these events on superconducting qubits and related devices. We also provide outlook on the potential impact of this source of ionizing radiation on future qubit arrays.
