Realization of a binary-outcome projection measurement of a three-level superconducting quantum system

  1. Markus Jerger,
  2. Pascal Macha,
  3. Andrés Rosario Hamann,
  4. Yarema Reshitnyk,
  5. Kristinn Juliusson,
  6. and Arkady Fedorov
The ability to determine whether a multi-level quantum system is in a certain state while preserving quantum coherence between all orthorgonal states is necessary to realize binary-outcome compatible measurements which are, in turn, a prerequisite for testing the contextuality of quantum mechanics. In this paper, we use a three-level superconducting system (a qutrit) coupled to a microwave cavity to explore different regimes of quantum measurement. In particular, we engineer the dispersive shifts of the cavity frequency to be identical for the first and second excited states of the qutrit which allows us to realize a strong projective binary-outcome measurement onto its ground state with a fidelity of 94.3%. Complemented with standard microwave control and low-noise parametric amplification, this scheme can be used to create sets of compatible measurements to reveal the contextual nature of superconducting circuits.
arxiv pdf

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