We present a method to identify the coupled, normal modes of a superconducting transmission-line with an embedded lumped element circuit. We evaluate the effective transmission-linenon-linearities in the case of Kerr-like Josephson interactions in the circuit and in the case where the embedded circuit constitutes a qubit degree of freedom, which is Rabi coupled to the field in the transmission-line. Our theory quantitatively accounts for the very high and positive Kerr non-linearities observed in a recent experiment [M. Reh\’ak et.al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 104, 162604], and we can evaluate the accomplishments of modified versions of the experimental circuit.
The interaction of light and matter is often described by the exchange of single excitations. When the coupling strength is a significant fraction of the system frequencies, the numberof excitations are no longer preserved and that simple picture breaks down. This regime is known as the ultrastrong coupling regime and is characterized by non-trivial light-matter eigenstates and complex dynamics. In this work, we propose to use a an array Josephson junctions to increase the impedance of the light mode enabling ultrastrong coupling to a transmon qubit. We show that the resulting dynamics can be generated and probed by taking advantage of the multi-mode structure of the junction array. This proposal relies on the frequency tunability of the transmon and, crucially, on the use of a low frequency mode of the array, which allows for non-adiabatic changes of the ground state.
We propose to use a cryogenic nonlinear resonator for the projective readout, classical memory, and feedback for a superconducting qubit. This approach sidesteps many of the inefficienciesinherent in two-way communication between temperature stages in typical systems with room temperature controllers, and avoids increasing the cryogenic heat load. This controller may find a broad range of uses in multi-qubit systems, but here we analyze two specific demonstrative cases in single qubit-control. In the first case, the nonlinear controller is used to initialize the qubit in a definite eigenstate. And in the second case, the qubit’s state is read into the controller’s classical memory, where it is stored for an indefinite period of time, and then used to reinstate the measured state after the qubit has decayed. We analyze the properties of this system and we show simulations of the time evolution for the full system dynamics.
A Superconducting Quantum Interference Device (SQUID) inserted in a superconducting waveguide resonator imposes current and voltage boundary conditions that makes it suitable as a tuningelement for the resonator modes. If such a SQUID element is subject to a periodically varying magnetic flux, the resonator modes acquire frequency side bands. In this work we calculate the multi-frequency eigenmodes of resonators coupled to periodically driven SQUIDs and we use the Lagrange formalism to propose a theory for their quantization. The elementary excitations of a multi-frequency mode can couple resonantly to physical systems with different transition frequencies and this makes the resonator an efficient quantum bus for state transfer and coherent quantum operations in hybrid quantum systems. As an example of the application of our multi-frequency modes, we determine their coupling to transmon qubits with different frequencies and we present a bi-chromatic scheme for entanglement and gate operations.
Microwave electronics constitutes an area of research aimed primarily towards the use of high-speed components and circuits for communication and sensing, while digital logic is difficultto implement with all-microwave technologies. We introduce a microwave driven circuit composed of superconducting resonators and qubits which shows a bistable behaviour, and we present a simple mechanism that allows single- or few-photon microwave pulses to work as Set- and Reset-signals that switch the circuit between its stable modes. The resulting system constitutes an ultra-low-energy Set-Reset flip-flop, and we show that its memory lifetime far exceeds the lifetime of states stored in any of its separate components.
A Lagrangian formalism is used to derive the Hamiltonian for a λ/4-resonator shunted by a current-biased Josephson junction. The eigenstates and the quantum dynamics of the systemare analyzed numerically, and we show that the system can function as an efficient detector of weak incident microwave fields.