Quantum-ready microwave detection with scalable graphene bolometers in the strong-localization regime

Yu-Cheng Chang; Federico Chianese; Naveen Shetty; Johanna Udén; Aditya Jayaraman; Joonas T. Peltonen; Samuel Lara Avila; Bayan Karimi; Andrey Danilov; Jukka P. Pekola; Sergey Kubatkin

doi:10.1103/pyd2-stcl

Quantum-ready microwave detection with scalable graphene bolometers in the strong-localization regime
Journal article, 2026

Exploiting quantum interference of charge carriers, epitaxial graphene grown on silicon carbide emerges as a game-changing platform for ultrasensitive bolometric sensing, featuring an intrinsic resistive thermometer response unmatched by any other graphene variant. By achieving low and uniform carrier densities, we have accessed a regime of strong charge localization that dramatically reduces thermal conductance, significantly enhancing bolometer performance. Here we present scalable graphene-based bolometers engineered for detecting gigahertz-range photons, a frequency domain essential for superconducting quantum processors. Our devices deliver a state-of-the-art noise equivalent power of 40 zW/root Hz at T = 40 mK, enabled by the steep temperature dependence of thermal conductance, G(th) similar to T-4 for T < 100 mK. These results establish epitaxial graphene bolometers as versatile and low-backaction detectors, unlocking new possibilities for next-generation quantum processors and pioneering investigations into the thermodynamics and thermalization pathways of strongly entangled quantum systems.