Andrew Cleland

Input-output theory for superconducting and photonic circuits that contain weak retro-reflections and other weak pseudo-cavities

  1. Robert Cook,
  2. David Schuster,
  3. Andrew Cleland,
  4. and Kurt Jacobs
Input-output theory is invaluable for treating superconducting and photonic circuits connected by transmission lines or waveguides. However, this theory cannot in general handle situations
in which retro-reflections from circuit components or configurations of beam-splitters create loops for the traveling-wave fields that connect the systems. Here, building upon the network-contraction theory of Gough and James [Commun. Math. Phys. 287, 1109 (2009)], we provide a compact and powerful method to treat any circuit that contains such loops so long as the effective cavities formed by the loops are sufficiently weak. Essentially all present-day on-chip superconducting and photonic circuits will satisfy this weakness condition so long as the reflectors that form the loops are not especially highly reflecting. As an example we analyze the problem of transmitting entanglement between two qubits connected by a transmission line with imperfect circulators, a problem for which the new method is essential. We obtain a full solution for the optimal receiver given that the sender employs a simple turn on/turn off. This solution shows that near-perfect transmission is possible even with significant retro-reflections.
arxiv pdf

Strong environmental coupling in a Josephson parametric amplifier

  1. Josh Mutus,
  2. Ted White,
  3. Rami Barends,
  4. Yu Chen,
  5. Zijun Chen,
  6. Ben Chiaro,
  7. Andrew Dunsworth,
  8. Evan Jeffrey,
  9. Julian Kelly,
  10. Anthony Megrant,
  11. Charles Neill,
  12. Peter O'Malley,
  13. Pedram Roushan,
  14. Daniel Sank,
  15. Amit Vainsencher,
  16. James Wenner,
  17. Kyle Sundqvist,
  18. Andrew Cleland,
  19. and John Martinis
We present a lumped-element Josephson parametric amplifier designed to operate with strong coupling to the environment. In this regime, we observe broadband frequency dependent amplification
with multi-peaked gain profiles. We account for this behaviour using the „pumpistor“ model which allows for frequency dependent variation of the external impedance. Using this understanding, we demonstrate control over gain profiles through changes in the environment impedance at a given frequency. With strong coupling to a suitable external impedance we observe a significant increase in dynamic range, and large amplification bandwidth up to 700 MHz giving near quantum-limited performance.
arxiv pdf

Fabrication and Characterization of Aluminum Airbridges for Superconducting Microwave Circuits

  1. Zijun Chen,
  2. Anthony Megrant,
  3. Julian Kelly,
  4. Rami Barends,
  5. Joerg Bochmann,
  6. Yu Chen,
  7. Ben Chiaro,
  8. Andrew Dunsworth,
  9. Evan Jeffrey,
  10. Joshua Mutus,
  11. Peter O'Malley,
  12. Charles Neill,
  13. Pedram Roushan,
  14. Daniel Sank,
  15. Amit Vainsencher,
  16. James Wenner,
  17. Theodore White,
  18. Andrew Cleland,
  19. and John Martinis
Superconducting microwave circuits based on coplanar waveguides (CPW) are susceptible to parasitic slotline modes which can lead to loss and decoherence. We motivate the use of superconducting
airbridges as a reliable method for preventing the propagation of these modes. We describe the fabrication of these airbridges on superconducting resonators, which we use to measure the loss due to placing airbridges over CPW lines. We find that the additional loss at single photon levels is small, and decreases at higher drive powers.
arxiv pdf

Design and characterization of a lumped element single-ended superconducting microwave parametric amplifier with on-chip flux bias line

  1. Josh Mutus,
  2. Ted White,
  3. Evan Jeffery,
  4. Daniel Sank,
  5. Rami Barends,
  6. Joerg Bochmann,
  7. Yu Chen,
  8. Zijun Chen,
  9. Ben Chiaro,
  10. Andrew Dunsworth,
  11. Julian Kelly,
  12. Anthony Megrant,
  13. Charles Neill,
  14. Peter O'malley,
  15. Pedram Roushan,
  16. Amit Vainsencher,
  17. Jim Wenner,
  18. Irfan Siddiqi,
  19. Rajamani Vijayaraghavan,
  20. Andrew Cleland,
  21. and John Martinis
We demonstrate a lumped-element Josephson Parametric Amplifier (LJPA), using a single-ended design that includes an on-chip, high-bandwidth flux bias line. The amplifier can be pumped
into its region of parametric gain through either the input port or through the flux bias line. Broadband amplification is achieved at a tunable frequency $\omega/2 \pi$ between 5 to 7 GHz with quantum-limited noise performance, a gain-bandwidth product greater than 500 MHz, and an input saturation power in excess of -120 dBm. The bias line allows fast frequency tuning of the amplifier, with variations of hundreds of MHz over time scales shorter than 10 ns.
arxiv pdf