Fluxon readout of a superconducting qubit

  1. Kirill G. Fedorov,
  2. Anastasia V. Shcherbakova,
  3. Michael J. Wolf,
  4. Detlef Beckmann,
  5. and Alexey V. Ustinov
Quantum computing using superconducting circuits underwent rapid development in the last decade. This field has propelled from quantum manipulation of single two-level systems to complex
designs employing multiple coupled qubits allowing one to execute simple quantum algorithms. On the way to a practical quantum computer, a need for scalable interfaces between classical circuits and the quantum counterparts has arisen. Low-temperature superconducting single-flux quantum (SFQ) logic employs magnetic fluxons in Josephson transmission lines (JTLs) as basic bits for classical computation. Here, we report on an experiment implementing a direct link between SFQ electronics and a superconducting qubit. We demonstrate a readout of the state of a flux qubit through a frequency shift of a single fluxon oscillating in a JTL. The energy spectrum of the flux qubit is measured using this technique. The demonstrated approach may open ways to future full-scale integration of solid-state quantum computers with digital SFQ electronics.

Josephson vortex coupled to a flux qubit

  1. Kirill G. Fedorov,
  2. Anastasia V. Shcherbakova,
  3. Roland Schäfer,
  4. and Alexey V. Ustinov
Experiments towards realizing a readout of superconducting qubits by using ballistic Josephson vortices are reported. We measured the microwave radiation induced by a fluxon moving
in an annular Josephson junction. By coupling a flux qubit as a current dipole to the annular junction, we detect periodic variations of the fluxon’s oscillation frequency versus magnetic flux through the qubit. We found that the scattering of a fluxon on a current dipole can lead to the acceleration of a fluxon regardless of a dipole polarity. We use the perturbation theory and numerical simulations of the perturbed sine-Gordon equation to analyze our results.