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
04
Feb
2016
Fluxonium-resonator system in the nonperturbative regime
We present a method for calculating the low-energy spectra of superconducting circuits with arbitrarily strong anharmonicity and coupling. As an example, we numerically diagonalize
the Hamiltonian of a fluxonium qubit inductively coupled to a readout resonator. Our method treats both the anharmonicity of the Hamiltonian and the coupling between qubit and readout modes exactly. Calculated spectra are compared to measured spectroscopy data for this fluxonium-resonator system. We observe excellent quantitative agreement between theory and experiment that is not possible with a purely perturbative approach.
Superconducting circuit simulator of Bose-Hubbard model with a flat band
Recent advance in quantum simulations of interacting photons using superconducting circuits offers opportunities for investigating the Bose-Hubbard model in various geometries with
hopping coefficients and self-interactions tuned to both signs. Here we investigate phenomena related to localized states associated with a flat-band supported by the saw-tooth geometry. A localization-delocalization transition emerges in the non-interacting regime as the sign of hopping coefficient is changed. In the presence of interactions, patterns of localized states approach a uniform density distribution for repulsive interactions while interesting localized density patterns can arise in strongly attractive regime. The density patterns indicate the underlying inhomogeneity of the simulator. Two-particle correlations can further distinguish the nature of the localized states in attractive and repulsive interaction regimes. We also survey possible experimental implementations of the simulator.
Multi-photon sideband transitions in an ultrastrongly-coupled circuit quantum electrodynamics system
Ultrastrong coupling in circuit quantum electrodynamics systems not only provides a platform to study the quantum Rabi model, but it can also facilitate the implementation of quantum
logic operations via high-lying resonator states. In this regime, quantum manifolds with different excitation numbers are intrinsically connected via the counter-rotating interactions, which can result in multi-photon processes. Recent experiments have demonstrated ultrastrong coupling in superconducting qubits electromagnetically coupled to superconducting resonators. Here we report the experimental observation of multiphoton sideband transitions of a superconducting flux qubit coupled to a coplanar waveguide resonator in the ultrastrong coupling regime. With a coupling strength reaching about 10% of the fundamental frequency of the resonator, we obtain clear signatures of higher-order red-sideband transitions and the first-order blue-sideband transition in a transmission spectroscopic measurement. This study advances the understanding of driven ultrastrongly-coupled systems.
03
Feb
2016
Superconducting quantum metamaterials as active lasing medium: Effects of disorder
A metamaterial formed by superconducting circuits or quantum dots can serve as active lasing medium when coupled to a microwave resonator. For these artificial atoms, in contrast to
real atoms, variations in their parameters cannot be avoided. In this paper, we examine the influence of disorder on such a multi-atom lasing setup. We find that the lasing process evolves into a self-organized stationary state that is quite robust against disorder. The reason is that photons created by those atoms which are in or close to resonance with the resonator stimulate the emission also of more detuned atoms. Not only the number of photons grows with the number of atoms, but also the width of the resonance as function of the detuning. Similar properties are found for other types of disorder such as variations in the individual coupling. We present relations how the allowed disorder scales with the number of atoms and confirm it by a numerical analysis. We also provide estimates for the sample-to-sample variations to be expected for setups with moderate numbers of atoms.
01
Feb
2016
Contextuality without nonlocality in a superconducting quantum system
Quantum physics cannot be reconciled with the classical philosophy of noncontextual realism. Realism demands that system properties exist independently of whether they are measured,
while noncontextuality demands that the results of measurements do not depend on what other measurements are performed in conjunction with them. The Bell-Kochen-Specker theorem states that noncontextual realism cannot reproduce the measurement statistics of a single three-level quantum system (qutrit). Noncontextual realistic models may thus be tested using a single qutrit without relying on the notion of quantum entanglement in contrast to Bell inequality tests. It is challenging to refute such models experimentally, since imperfections may introduce loopholes that enable a realist interpretation. Using a superconducting qutrit with deterministic, binary-outcome readouts, we violate a noncontextuality inequality while addressing the detection, individual-existence and compatibility loopholes. Noncontextuality tests have been carried out in a range of different physical systems and dimensionalities, including neutrons, trapped ions and single photons, but no experiment addressing all three loopholes has been performed in the qutrit scenario where entanglement cannot play a role. Demonstrating state-dependent contextuality of a solid-state system is also an important conceptual ingredient for universal quantum computation in surface-code architectures, currently the most promising route to scalable quantum computing.
Superconducting qubit-oscillator circuit beyond the ultrastrong-coupling regime
To control light-matter interaction at the single-quantum level in cavity quantum electrodynamics (cavity-QED) or circuit-QED, strong coupling between the light and matter components
is indispensable. Specifically, the coupling rate g must be larger than the decay rates. If g is increased further and becomes as large as the frequencies of light and matter excitations, the energy eigenstates including the ground state are predicted to be highly entangled. This qualitatively new coupling regime can be called the deep strong-coupling regime. One approach toward the deep strong-coupling regime is to use huge numbers of identical systems to take advantage of ensemble enhancement. With the emergence of so-called macroscopic artificial atoms, superconducting qubits for example, it has become possible for a single artificial atom to realize ultrastrong coupling, where ℏg exceeds ~10% of the energies of the qubit ℏωq and the harmonic oscillator ℏωo. By making use of the macroscopic magnetic dipole moment of a flux qubit, large zero-point-fluctuation current of an LC oscillator, and large Josephson inductance of a coupler junction, we have realized circuits in the deep strong-coupling regime, where g/ωo ranges from 0.72 to 1.34 and g/ωq >> 1. Using energy spectroscopy measurements, we have observed unconventional transition spectra between Schrodinger cat-like energy eigenstates. These states involve quantum superpositions of Fock states with phase-space displacements of ±g/ωo and remarkably survive with environmental noise. Our results provide a basis for ground-state-based entangled-pair generation and open a new direction in circuit-QED.
Ultrastrong coupling of a single artificial atom to an electromagnetic continuum
The study of the interaction of light and matter has led to many fundamental discoveries as well as numerous important technologies. Over the last decades, great strides have been made
in increasing the strength of this interaction at the single-photon level, leading to a continual exploration of new physics and applications. In recent years, a major achievement has been the demonstration of the so-called strong coupling regime, a key advancement enabling great progress in quantum information science. In this work, we demonstrate light-matter interaction over an order of magnitude stronger than previously reported, reaching a new regime of ultrastrong coupling (USC). We achieve this using a superconducting artificial atom tunably coupled to the electromagnetic continuum of a one-dimensional waveguide. For the largest values of the coupling, the spontaneous emission rate of the atom is comparable to its transition frequency. In this USC regime, the conventional quantum description of the atom and light as distinct entities breaks down, and a new description in terms of hybrid states is required. Our results open the door to a wealth of new physics and applications. Beyond light-matter interaction itself, the tunability of our system makes it promising as a tool to study a number of important physical systems such as the well-known spin-boson and Kondo models.
31
Jan
2016
Protected ground states in short chains of coupled spins in circuit quantum electrodynamics
The quasi-degenerate ground state manifold of the anisotropic Ising spin model can encode quantum information, but its degree of protection against local perturbations is known to be
only partial. We explain how the coupling between the two ground states can be used to observe signatures of Majorana zero modes in a small controlled chain of qubits. We argue that the protection against certain local perturbations persists across a range of parameters even away from the ideal point. Remarkably, when additional non-local interactions are considered the system enters a phase where the ground states are fully protected against all local field perturbations.
30
Jan
2016
Towards Quantum Simulation of Chemical Dynamics with Prethreshold Superconducting Qubits
The single excitation subspace (SES) method for universal quantum simulation is investigated for a number of diatomic molecular collision complexes. Assuming a system of n tunably-coupled,
and fully-connected superconducting qubits, computations are performed in the n-dimensional SES which maps directly to an n-channel collision problem within a diabatic molecular wave function representation. Here we outline the approach on a classical computer to solve the time-dependent Schr\“odinger equation in an n-dimensional molecular basis – the so-called semiclassical molecular-orbital close-coupling (SCMOCC) method – and extend the treatment beyond the straight-line, constant-velocity approximation which is restricted to large kinetic energies (≳0.1 keV/u). We explore various multichannel potential averaging schemes and an Ehrenfest symmetrization approach to allow for the application of the SCMOCC method to much lower collision energies (approaching 1 eV/u). In addition, a computational efficiency study for various propagators is performed to speed-up the calculations on classical computers. These computations are repeated for the simulation of the SES approach assuming typical parameters for realistic pretheshold superconducting quantum computing hardware. The feasibility of applying future SES processors to the quantum dynamics of large molecular collision systems is briefly discussed.
Four-junction superconducting circuit in both flux and phase regimes
We develop a theory for the quantum circuit consisting of a superconducting loop interrupted by four Josephson junctions and pierced by a magnetic flux (either static or time-dependent).
In addition to the similarity with the typical three-junction flux qubit, we demonstrate the difference of the four-junction circuit from its three-junction analogue, especially its distinct advantages over the latter. Moreover, the four-junction circuit in the phase regime is also investigated. Our theory provides a tool to explore the physical properties of this four-junction superconducting circuit.