Geometric phases in superconducting qubits beyond the two-level-approximation
Geometric phases, which accompany the evolution of a quantum system and
depend only on its trajectory in state space, are commonly studied in two-level
systems. Here, however, we study the adiabatic geometric phase in a weakly
anharmonic and strongly driven multi-level system, realised as a
superconducting transmon-type circuit. We measure the contribution of the
second excited state to the two-level geometric phase and find good agreement
with theory treating higher energy levels perturbatively. By changing the
evolution time, we confirm the independence of the geometric phase of time and
explore the validity of the adiabatic approximation at the transition to the
non-adiabatic regime.