Progressive thermal drying chamber for quantum circuits
Techniques are described herein that are capable of progressively thermally drying a quantum circuit. An inert gas is progressively heated by a heater element to provide a heated inert gas. Heated ambient air and the heated inert gas combine in a heating channel, causing a combination of the heated ambient air and the heated inert gas to flow into a probe compartment to progressively thermally dry a quantum circuit therein. A flow rate of the inert gas is controlled to cause the combination to have a relative humidity less than or equal to a threshold. A temperature of the heater element may be controlled to be approximately equal to a progressively increasing target temperature within a tolerance of 3.0° C. Heating of the inert gas may be initiated based on detection of the inert gas, and the flow and heating of the inert gas may be automatically discontinued.
1. A progressive thermal drying chamber comprising:
a probe compartment configured to house a quantum circuit during a thermal drying process;
a temperature-controlled heating channel coupled to the probe compartment and configured to provide a heated combination, which includes heated ambient air and a heated inert gas, to the probe compartment;
an in-line heater element configured to heat an inert gas to provide the heated inert gas;
a temperature controller configured to control a temperature of the in-line heater element such that the in-line heater element progressively heats the inert gas as the inert gas flows into the temperature-controlled heating channel; and
a flow rate controller configured to cause the heated combination to have a relative humidity less than or equal to a relative humidity threshold by controlling a rate at which the inert gas flows into the temperature-controlled heating channel.
2. The progressive thermal drying chamber of claim 1 , wherein the relative humidity threshold is a relative humidity at which water condensation occurs on an outer surface of the quantum circuit.
3. The progressive thermal drying chamber of claim 1 , wherein the temperature controller is configured to control the temperature of the in-line heater element to track a progressively increasing target temperature within a targeted tolerance.
4. The progressive thermal drying chamber of claim 1 , wherein the temperature controller is configured to identify initiation of the thermal drying process based at least on detection of the inert gas flowing toward the probe compartment;
wherein the temperature controller is configured to automatically cause the in-line heater element to initiate heating of the inert gas based at least on the initiation of the thermal drying process;
wherein the temperature controller is configured to automatically cause the in-line heater element to discontinue heating of the inert gas based at least on a discontinuation of the thermal drying process; and
wherein the flow rate controller is configured to automatically discontinue flow of the inert gas into the temperature-controlled heating channel based at least on the discontinuation of the thermal drying process.
5. The progressive thermal drying chamber of claim 1 , wherein the temperature controller is configured to automatically cause the in-line heater element to discontinue heating of the inert gas based at least on a discontinuation of a supply of the inert gas.
6. The progressive thermal drying chamber of claim 1 , wherein the probe compartment is capable of housing probes of different sizes, the size of each probe corresponding to a size of a quantum circuit that the probe is configured to support.
7. A method of progressively thermally drying a quantum circuit, the method comprising:
progressively heating an inert gas by an in-line heater element as the inert gas flows into a temperature-controlled heating channel toward a probe compartment that includes the quantum circuit to provide a heated inert gas, the progressively heating including controlling a temperature of the in-line heater element to track a target temperature, which progressively increases over time, within a targeted tolerance;
causing heated ambient air and the heated inert gas to be combined in the temperature-controlled heating channel, which causes a heated combination, including the heated ambient air and the heated inert gas, to flow into the probe compartment to progressively thermally dry the quantum circuit; and
causing the heated combination to have a relative humidity less than or equal to a relative humidity threshold by controlling a rate at which the inert gas flows into the temperature-controlled heating channel.
8. The method of claim 7 , wherein controlling the temperature of the in-line heater element comprises:
toggling the in-line heater element between an on state and an off state, which causes the temperature of the in-line heater element to track the target temperature within the targeted tolerance.
9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the rate at which the inert gas flows into the temperature-controlled heating channel is controlled based at least on the target temperature.
10. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:
automatically detecting that an amount of the inert gas in a reservoir from which the inert gas flows into the temperature-controlled heating channel is less than or equal to a threshold amount;
automatically discontinuing heating of the inert gas by the in-line heater element based at least on detection that the amount of the inert gas in the reservoir is less than or equal to the threshold amount; and
automatically generating a notification to indicate that the amount of the inert gas in the reservoir is less than or equal to the threshold amount.
11. The method of claim 7 , wherein the heated combination is caused to have the relative humidity less than or equal to the relative humidity threshold further by controlling a rate at which the heated ambient air flows into the temperature-controlled heating channel.
12. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:
automatically generating a notification, which indicates that the quantum circuit is being thermally dried, based at least on the inert gas being progressively heated by the in-line heater element.
13. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:
automatically generating a notification, which indicates that thermal drying of the quantum circuit is complete, based at least on passage of a specified amount of time that begins at a time instance at which the inert gas begins to flow into the temperature-controlled heating channel.
14. A method of progressively thermally drying a quantum circuit, the method comprising:
identifying initiation of a thermal drying process based at least on detection of an inert gas flowing toward a probe compartment that includes the quantum circuit;
automatically initiating heating of the inert gas by an in-line heater element as the inert gas flows into a temperature-controlled heating channel to provide a heated inert gas based at least on the initiation of the thermal drying process;
causing heated ambient air and the heated inert gas to be combined in the temperature-controlled heating channel, which causes a heated combination, including the heated ambient air and the heated inert gas, to flow into the probe compartment to progressively thermally dry the quantum circuit; and
causing the heated combination to have a relative humidity less than or equal to a relative humidity threshold by controlling a rate at which the inert gas flows into the temperature-controlled heating channel.
15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising:
monitoring a temperature of the in-line heater element during the thermal drying process; and
automatically triggering a discontinuation of the thermal drying process based at least on the temperature reaching a temperature threshold.
16. The method of claim 14 , further comprising:
automatically progressively increasing an intensity of thermal energy that is applied to the inert gas by the in-line heater element over time to increase a temperature of the heated inert gas, the automatically progressively increasing the intensity of the thermal energy including automatically controlling a temperature of the in-line heater element to be approximately equal to a reference temperature, which progressively increases during the thermal drying process, within a targeted tolerance.
17. The method of claim 14 , further comprising:
automatically detecting that an amount of the inert gas in a reservoir from which the inert gas flows into the temperature-controlled heating channel is less than or equal to a threshold amount;
automatically discontinuing the heating of the inert gas by the in-line heater element based at least on detection that the amount of the inert gas in the reservoir is less than or equal to the threshold amount; and
automatically generating a notification to indicate that the amount of the inert gas in the reservoir is less than or equal to the threshold amount.
18. The method of claim 14 , wherein the heated combination is caused to have the relative humidity less than or equal to the relative humidity threshold further by automatically controlling a rate at which the heated ambient air flows into the temperature-controlled heating channel.
19. The method of claim 14 , further comprising:
causing a setup interface to be presented to a user via a network, the setup interface enabling the user to set at least one of the following:
a temperature to which the in-line heater element is to be heated;
a maximum temperature, which corresponds to the in-line heater element, at which the temperature controller is configured to automatically cause the in-line heater element to discontinue heating of the inert gas;
the relative humidity threshold;
a duration of the thermal drying process.
20. The method of claim 14 , further comprising:
causing a monitoring interface to be presented to a user via a network, the monitoring interface enabling the user to monitor at least one of the following:
an amount of the inert gas in a reservoir from which the inert gas flows into the temperature-controlled heating;
a setpoint temperature of the in-line heater element;
a progressive temperature of the in-line heater element;
the relative humidity of the heated combination;
an amount of time since initiation of the thermal drying process.