Waveguides provide a flexible platform for long-range interactions between superconducting qubits. Here, we study how to engineer the effective (XY) and (ZZ) interactions betweentwo qubits via qubit frequency assignments and multimode interference determined by the mode configuration and standing-wave parities of a finite multimode waveguide. For a single-mode waveguide, we find that \(XY\) and \(ZZ\) interactions cannot be simultaneously suppressed to zero and the residual qubit-qubit coupling always exists. For example, the \(XY\) interaction may be suppressed to a negligible level when two qubits and the waveguide mode satisfy the two-photon resonant condition, but the \(ZZ\) interaction cannot be switched off. For multimode configurations within the central dispersive window, the engineered interaction types are very different for odd and even numbers of modes. Even-mode configurations can readily produce strong \(XY\) interactions, whereas odd-mode configurations can strongly suppress the \(XY\) interaction while retaining a finite \(ZZ\) interaction. Full-Hamiltonian simulations of minimal two- and three-mode configurations confirm \(XY\)-dominated SWAP dynamics and \(ZZ\)-dominated CZ-type dynamics, respectively. These results establish a frequency assignment criterion of qubits and waveguide modes for selectively engineering long-range qubit-qubit interaction types induced by the waveguide with finite multimode.
A one-dimensional waveguide is a crucial medium for transferring propagating quantum information between remote qubits, yet the photon-mediated interaction is typically fixed by thestatic device geometry, qubit parameters, and their couplings to the transmission line. Such an interaction can be engineered to be coherent or dissipative via virtual- or real-photon exchange, respectively, yet its effective strength remains fixed in either case. Here we demonstrate dynamical control over this interaction by applying Floquet engineering to two superconducting qubits coupled to a waveguide terminated by a capacitive mirror. By positioning one qubit at an antinode and the other qubit at a node or an antinode of the resonant standing wave, we realize a Hermitian or non-Hermitian coupling between the two qubits. A periodic flux drive of the qubit frequencies then enables on-demand control of the coherent energy splitting and the collective decay. Our results establish Floquet engineering as a route to dynamically reshape both coherent and dissipative photon-mediated interactions between remote quantum emitters.
Synthesizing many-body interaction Hamiltonian is a central task in quantum simulation. However, it is challenging to synthesize interactions including more than two spins. Borrowingtools from quantum optics, we synthesize five-body spin-exchange interaction in a superconducting quantum circuit by simultaneously exciting four independent qubits with time-energy correlated photon quadruples generated from a qudit. During the dynamic evolution of the five-body interaction, a Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger state is generated in a single step with fidelity estimated to be 0.685. We compare the influence of noise on the three-, four- and five-body interaction as a step toward answering the question on the quantum origin of chiral molecules. We also demonstrate a many-body Mach-Zehnder interferometer which potentially has a Heisenberg-limit sensitivity. This study paves a way for quantum simulation involving many-body interactions and high excited states of quantum circuits.
Here we report the first observation of simultaneous excitation of two noninteracting atoms by a pair of time-frequency correlated photons in a superconducting circuit. The strong couplingregime of this process enables the synthesis of a three-body interaction Hamiltonian, which allows the generation of the tripartite Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger state in a single step with a fidelity as high as 0.95. We further demonstrate the quantum Zeno effect of inhibiting the simultaneous two-atom excitation by continuously measuring whether the first photon is emitted. This work provides a new route in synthesizing many-body interaction Hamiltonian and coherent control of entanglement.
Superconducting qubits provide a competitive platform for quantum simulation of complex dynamics that lies at the heart of quantum many-body systems, because of the flexibility andscalability afforded by the nature of microfabrication. However, in a multiqubit device, the physical form of couplings between qubits is either an electric (capacitor) or magnetic field (inductor), and the associated quadratic field energy determines that only two-body interaction in the Hamiltonian can be directly realized. Here we propose and experimentally synthesize the three-body spin-chirality interaction in a superconducting circuit based on Floquet engineering. By periodically modulating the resonant frequencies of the qubits connected with each other via capacitors, we can dynamically turn on and off qubit-qubit couplings, and further create chiral flows of the excitations in the three-qubit circular loop. Our result is a step toward engineering dynamical and many-body interactions in multiqubit superconducting devices, which potentially expands the degree of freedom in quantum simulation tasks.
Superradiance and subradiance concerning enhanced and inhibited collective radiation of an ensemble of atoms have been a central topic in quantum optics. However, precise generationand control of these states remain challenging. Here we deterministically generate up to 10-qubit superradiant and 8-qubit subradiant states, each containing a single excitation, in a superconducting quantum circuit with multiple qubits interconnected by a cavity resonator. The N−−√-scaling enhancement of the coupling strength between the superradiant states and the cavity is validated. By applying appropriate phase gate on each qubit, we are able to switch the single collective excitation between superradiant and subradiant states. While the subradiant states containing a single excitation are forbidden from emitting photons, we demonstrate that they can still absorb photons from the resonator. However, for even number of qubits, a singlet state with half of the qubits being excited can neither emit nor absorb photons, which is verified with 4 qubits. This study is a step forward in coherent control of collective radiation and has promising applications in quantum information processing.
Recently it was shown that mesoscopic superpositions of photonic states can be prepared based on a spin-gated chiral photon rotation in a Fock-state lattice of three cavities coupledto a spin (two-level atom). By exchanging the roles of the cavities and the spin, we have performed parallel operations on chiral spin states based on an antisymmetric spin exchange interaction (ASI) in a superconducting circuit. The ASI, which is also called Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction, plays an important role in the formation of topological spin textures such as skyrmions. By periodically modulating the transition frequencies of three superconducting qubits interacting with a bus resonator, we synthesize a chiral ASI Hamiltonian with spin-gated chiral dynamics, which allow us to demonstrate a three-spin chiral logic gate and entangle up to five qubits in Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger states. Our results pave the way for quantum simulation of magnetism with ASI and quantum computation with chiral spin states.
We propose a scheme to generate Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) state for N superconducting qubits in a circuit QED system. By sinusoidally modulating the qubit-qubit coupling, asynthetic magnetic field has been made which broken the time-reversal symmetry of the system. Directional rotation of qubit excitation can be realized in a three-qubit loop under the artificial magnetic field. Based on the special quality that the rotation of qubit excitation has different direction for single- and double-excitation loops, we can generate three-qubit GHZ state and extend this preparation method to arbitrary multiqubit GHZ state. Our analysis also shows that the scheme is robust to various operation errors and environmental noise.