I am going to post here all newly submitted articles on the arXiv related to superconducting circuits. If your article has been accidentally forgotten, feel free to contact me
12
Dez
2017
Tuning coupling between superconducting resonators with collective qubits
By coupling multiple artificial atoms simultaneously to two superconducting resonators, we construct a quantum switch that controls the resonator-resonator coupling strength from zero
to a large value proportional to the number of qubits. This process is implemented by switching the qubits among different \emph{subradiant states}, where the microwave photons decayed from different qubits interfere destructively so that the coupling strength keeps stable against environmental noise. Based on a two-step control scheme, the coupling strength can be switched at the \emph{nanosecond} scale while the qubits are maintained at the coherent optimal point. We also use the quantum switch to connect multiple resonators with a programmable network topology, and demonstrate its potential applications in quantum simulation and scalable quantum information storage and processing.
11
Dez
2017
Two-photon driven Kerr resonator for quantum annealing with three-dimensional circuit QED
We propose a realizable circuit QED architecture for engineering states of a superconducting resonator off-resonantly coupled to an ancillary superconducting qubit. The qubit-resonator
dispersive interaction together with a microwave drive applied to the qubit gives rise to a Kerr resonator with two-photon driving that enables us to efficiently engineer the quantum state of the resonator such as generation of the Schrodinger cat states for resonator-based universal quantum computation. Moreover, the presented architecture is easily scalable for solving optimization problem mapped into the Ising spin glass model, and thus served as a platform for quantum annealing. Although various scalable architecture with superconducting qubits have been proposed for realizing quantum annealer, the existing annealers are currently limited to the coherent time of the qubits. Here, based on the protocol for realizing two-photon driven Kerr resonator in three-dimensional circuit QED (3D cQED), we propose a flexible and scalable hardware for implementing quantum annealer that combines the advantage of the long coherence times attainable in 3D cQED and the recently proposed resonator based Lechner-Hauke-Zoller (LHZ) scheme. In the proposed resonator based LHZ annealer, each spin is encoded in the subspace formed by two coherent state of 3D microwave superconducting resonator with opposite phase, and thus the fully-connected Ising model is mapped onto the network of the resonator with local tunable three-resonator interaction. This hardware architecture provides a promising physical platform for realizing quantum annealer with improved coherence.
08
Dez
2017
Realizing a Circuit Analog of an Optomechanical System with Longitudinally Coupled Superconducting Resonators
We realize a superconducting circuit analog of the generic cavity-optomechanical Hamiltonian by longitudinally coupling two superconducting resonators, which are an order of magnitude
different in frequency. We achieve longitudinal coupling by embedding a superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) into a high frequency resonator, making its resonance frequency depend on the zero point current fluctuations of a nearby low frequency LC-resonator. By employing sideband drive fields we enhance the intrinsic coupling strength of about 15 kHz up to 280 kHz by controlling the amplitude of the drive field. Our results pave the way towards the exploration of optomechanical effects in a fully superconducting platform and could enable quantum optics experiments with photons in the yet unexplored radio frequency band.
05
Dez
2017
Correlating the nanostructure of Al-oxide with deposition conditions and dielectric contributions of two-level systems in perspective of superconducting quantum circuits
This work is concerned with Al/Al-oxide(AlOx)/Al-layer systems which are important for Josephson-junction-based superconducting devices such as quantum bits. The device performance
is limited by noise, which has been to a large degree assigned to the presence and properties of two-level tunneling systems in the amorphous AlOx tunnel barrier. The study is focused on the correlation of the fabrication conditions, nanostructural and nanochemical properties and the occurrence of two-level tunneling systems with particular emphasis on the AlOx-layer. Electron-beam evaporation with two different processes and sputter deposition were used for structure fabrication, and the effect of illumination by ultraviolet light during Al-oxide formation is elucidated. Characterization was performed by analytical transmission electron microscopy and low-temperature dielectric measurements. We show that the fabrication conditions have a strong impact on the nanostructural and nanochemical properties of the layer systems and the properties of two-level tunneling systems. Based on the understanding of the observed structural characteristics, routes are derived towards the fabrication of Al/AlOx/Al-layers systems with improved properties.
01
Dez
2017
Low Loss Multi-Layer Wiring for Superconducting Microwave Devices
Complex integrated circuits require multiple wiring layers. In complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) processing, these layers are robustly separated by amorphous dielectrics.
These dielectrics would dominate energy loss in superconducting integrated circuits. Here we demonstrate a procedure that capitalizes on the structural benefits of inter-layer dielectrics during fabrication and mitigates the added loss. We separate and support multiple wiring layers throughout fabrication using SiO2 scaffolding, then remove it post-fabrication. This technique is compatible with foundry level processing and the can be generalized to make many different forms of low-loss multi-layer wiring. We use this technique to create freestanding aluminum vacuum gap crossovers (airbridges). We characterize the added capacitive loss of these airbridges by connecting ground planes over microwave frequency λ/4 coplanar waveguide resonators and measuring resonator loss. We measure a low power resonator loss of ∼3.9×10−8 per bridge, which is 100 times lower than dielectric supported bridges. We further characterize these airbridges as crossovers, control line jumpers, and as part of a coupling network in gmon and fuxmon qubits. We measure qubit characteristic lifetimes (T1’s) in excess of 30 μs in gmon devices.
30
Nov
2017
Single-Shot Quantum Non-Demolition Detection of Itinerant Microwave Photons
Single-photon detection is an essential component in many experiments in quantum optics, but remains challenging in the microwave domain. We realize a quantum non-demolition detector
for propagating microwave photons and characterize its performance using a single-photon source. To this aim we implement a cavity-assisted conditional phase gate between the incoming photon and a superconducting artificial atom. By reading out the state of this atom in single shot, we reach an internal photon detection fidelity of 71%, limited by the coherence properties of the qubit. By characterizing the coherence and average number of photons in the field reflected off the detector, we demonstrate its quantum non-demolition nature. We envisage applications in generating heralded remote entanglement between qubits and for realizing logic gates between propagating microwave photons.
29
Nov
2017
Sampling and scrambling on a chain of superconducting qubits
We study a circuit, the Josephson sampler, that embeds a real vector into an entangled state of n qubits, and optionally samples from it. We measure its fidelity and entanglement on
the 16-qubit ibmqx5 chip. To assess its expressiveness, we also measure its ability to generate Haar random unitaries and quantum chaos, as measured by Porter-Thomas statistics and out-of-time-order correlation functions. The circuit requires nearest-neighbor CZ gates on a chain and is especially well suited for first-generation superconducting architectures.
28
Nov
2017
Electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy using a single artificial atom
Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy is an important technology in physics, chemistry, materials science, and biology. Sensitive detection with a small sample volume is
a key objective in these areas, because it is crucial, for example, for the readout of a highly packed spin based quantum memory or the detection of unlabeled metalloproteins in a single cell. In conventional EPR spectrometers, the energy transfer from the spins to the cavity at a Purcell enhanced rate plays an essential role and requires the spins to be resonant with the cavity, however the size of the cavity (limited by the wavelength) makes it difficult to improve the spatial resolution. Here, we demonstrate a novel EPR spectrometer using a single artificial atom as a sensitive detector of spin magnetization. The artificial atom, a superconducting flux qubit, provides advantages both in terms of its quantum properties and its much stronger coupling with magnetic fields. We have achieved a sensitivity of ∼400 spins/Hz‾‾‾√ with a magnetic sensing volume around 10−14λ3 (50 femto-liters). This corresponds to an improvement of two-order of magnitude in the magnetic sensing volume compared with the best cavity based spectrometers while maintaining a similar sensitivity as those spectrometers . Our artificial atom is suitable for scaling down and thus paves the way for measuring single spins on the nanometer scale.
One-way Quantum Computing in Superconducting Circuits
We propose a method for the implementation of one-way quantum computing in superconducting circuits. Measurement-based quantum computing is a universal quantum computation paradigm
in which an initial cluster-state provides the quantum resource, while the iteration of sequential measurements and local rotations encodes the quantum algorithm. Up to now, technical constraints have limited a scalable approach to this quantum computing alternative. The initial cluster state can be generated with available controlled-phase gates, while the quantum algorithm make use of high-fidelity readout and coherent feedback. With current technology, we estimate that quantum algorithms with above 20 qubits may be implemented in the path towards quantum supremacy. Moreover, we propose an alternative initial state with properties of maximal persistence and maximal connectedness, reducing the required resources of one-way quantum computing protocols.
27
Nov
2017
Two-photon quantum Rabi model with superconducting circuits
We propose a superconducting circuit to implement a two-photon quantum Rabi model in a solid-state device, where a qubit and a resonator are coupled by a two-photon interaction. We
analyze the input-output relations for this circuit in the strong coupling regime and find that fundamental quantum optical phenomena are qualitatively modified. For instance, two-photon interactions are shown to yield single- or two-photon blockade when a pumping field is either applied to the cavity mode or to the qubit, respectively. In addition, we derive an effective Hamiltonian for perturbative ultrastrong two-photon couplings in the dispersive regime, where two- photon interactions introduce a qubit-state-dependent Kerr term. Finally, we analyze the spectral collapse of the multi-qubit two-photon quantum Rabi model and find a scaling of the critical coupling with the number of qubits. Using realistic parameters with the circuit proposed, three qubits are sufficient to reach the collapse point.