A major challenge in operating multi-qubit quantum processors is to mitigate multi-qubit coherent errors. For superconducting circuits, besides crosstalk originating from imperfectisolation of control lines, dispersive coupling between qubits is a major source of multi-qubit coherent errors. We benchmark phase errors in a controlled-phase gate due to dispersive coupling of either of the qubits involved in the gate to one or more spectator qubits. We measure the associated gate infidelity using quantum process tomography. In addition, we point out that, due to coupling of the gate qubits to a non-computational state during the gate, two-qubit conditional phase errors are enhanced. Our work is important for understanding limits to the fidelity of two-qubit gates with finite on/off ratio in multi-qubit settings.
We realize a superconducting circuit analog of the generic cavity-optomechanical Hamiltonian by longitudinally coupling two superconducting resonators, which are an order of magnitudedifferent 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.
The speed of quantum gates and measurements is a decisive factor for the overall fidelity of quantum protocols when performed on physical qubits with finite coherence time. Reducingthe time required to distinguish qubit states with high fidelity is therefore a critical goal in quantum information science. The state-of-the-art readout of superconducting qubits is based on the dispersive interaction with a readout resonator. Here, we bring this technique to its current limit and demonstrate how the careful design of system parameters leads to fast and high-fidelity measurements without affecting qubit coherence. We achieve this result by increasing the dispersive interaction strength, by choosing an optimal linewidth of the readout resonator, by employing a Purcell filter, and by utilizing phase-sensitive parametric amplification. In our experiment, we measure 98.25% readout fidelity in only 48 ns, when minimizing read-out time, and 99.2% in 88 ns, when maximizing the fidelity, limited predominantly by the qubit lifetime of 7.6 us. The presented scheme is also expected to be suitable for integration into a multiplexed readout architecture.
A quantum system interacting with its environment is subject to dephasing which ultimately destroys the information it holds. Using a superconducting qubit, we experimentally show thatthis dephasing has both dynamic and geometric origins. It is found that geometric dephasing, which is present even in the adiabatic limit and when no geometric phase is acquired, can either reduce or restore coherence depending on the orientation of the path the qubit traces out in its projective Hilbert space. It accompanies the evolution of any system in Hilbert space subjected to noise.
Improving the understanding of strongly correlated quantum many body systems such as gases of interacting atoms or electrons is one of the most important challenges in modern condensedmatter physics, materials research and chemistry. Enormous progress has been made in the past decades in developing both classical and quantum approaches to calculate, simulate and experimentally probe the properties of such systems. In this work we use a combination of classical and quantum methods to experimentally explore the properties of an interacting quantum gas by creating experimental realizations of continuous matrix product states – a class of states which has proven extremely powerful as a variational ansatz for numerical simulations. By systematically preparing and probing these states using a circuit quantum electrodynamics (cQED) system we experimentally determine a good approximation to the ground-state wave function of the Lieb-Liniger Hamiltonian, which describes an interacting Bose gas in one dimension. Since the simulated Hamiltonian is encoded in the measurement observable rather than the controlled quantum system, this approach has the potential to apply to exotic models involving multicomponent interacting fields. Our findings also hint at the possibility of experimentally exploring general properties of matrix product states and entanglement theory. The scheme presented here is applicable to a broad range of systems exploiting strong and tunable light-matter interactions.
An individual excited two level system decays to its ground state by emitting a single photon in a process known as spontaneous emission. In accordance with quantum theory the probabilityof detecting the emitted photon decreases exponentially with the time passed since the excitation of the two level system. In 1954 Dicke first considered the more subtle situation in which two emitters decay in close proximity to each other. He argued that the emission dynamics of a single two level system is altered by the presence of a second one, even if it is in its ground state. Here, we present a close to ideal realization of Dicke’s original two-spin Gedankenexperiment, using a system of two individually controllable superconducting qubits weakly coupled to a microwave cavity with a fast decay rate. The two-emitter case of superradiance is explicitly demonstrated both in time-resolved measurements of the emitted power and by fully reconstructing the density matrix of the emitted field in the photon number basis.
We demonstrate a coupled cavity realization of a Bose Hubbard dimer to achieve quantum limited amplification and to generate frequency entangled microwave fields with squeezing parameterswell below -12 dB. In contrast to previous implementations of parametric amplifiers our dimer can be operated both as a degenerate and as a nondegenerate amplifier. The large measured gain-bandwidth product of more than 250 MHz for nondegenerate operation and the saturation at input photon numbers as high as 2000 per us are both expected to be improvable even further, while maintaining wide frequency tunability of about 2 GHz. Featuring flexible control over all relevant system parameters, the presented Bose-Hubbard dimer based on lumped element circuits has significant potential as an elementary cell in nonlinear cavity arrays for quantum simulation.
We demonstrate the active suppression of transmon qubit dephasing induced by dispersive measurement, using parametric amplification and analog feedback. By real-time processing of thehomodyne record, the feedback controller reverts the stochastic quantum phase kick imparted by the measurement on the qubit. The feedback operation matches a model of quantum trajectories with measurement efficiency η~≈0.5, consistent with the result obtained by postselection. We overcome the bandwidth limitations of the amplification chain by numerically optimizing the signal processing in the feedback loop and provide a theoretical model explaining the optimization result.
Coherent generation of single photons with waveforms of a given shape plays an important role in many protocols for quantum information exchange between distant quantum bits. Here wecreate shaped microwave photons in a superconducting system consisting of a transmon circuit coupled to a transmission line resonator. Using the third level of the transmon, we exploit a second-order transition induced by a modulated microwave drive to controllably transfer an excitation to the resonator from which it is emitted into a transmission line as a travelling photon. We demonstrate the single-photon nature of the emitted field and the ability to generate photons with a controlled amplitude and phase. In contrast to similar schemes, the presented one requires only a single control line, allowing for a simple implementation with fixed-frequency qubits.
One of the central challenges in the development of parametric amplifiers is the control of the dynamic range relative to its gain and bandwidth, which typically limits quantum limitedamplification to signals which contain only a few photons per inverse bandwidth. Here, we discuss the control of the dynamic range of Josephson parametric amplifiers by using Josephson junction arrays. We discuss gain, bandwidth, noise, and dynamic range properties of both a transmission line and a lumped element based parametric amplifier. Based on these investigations we derive useful design criteria, which may find broad application in the development of practical parametric amplifiers.