There is described herein a topologically protected quantum circuit with superconducting qubits and method of operation thereof. The circuit comprises a plurality of physical superconducting qubits and a plurality of coupling devices interleaved between pairs of the physical superconducting qubits. The coupling devices comprise at least one φ-Josephson junction, wherein a Josephson phase φ0 of the φ-Josephson junction is non-zero in a ground state, the coupling devices have a Josephson energy EJφ, the physical superconducting qubits have a Josephson energy EJq, and the circuit operates in a topological regime when






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