We present here our recent results on qubit reset scheme based on a quantum-circuit refrigerator (QCR). In particular, we use the photon-assisted quasiparticle tunneling through a superconductor–insulator–normal-metal–insulator–superconductorjunction to controllably decrease the energy relaxation time of the qubit during the QCR operation. In our experiment, we use a transmon qubit with dispersive readout. The QCR is capacitively coupled to the qubit through its normal-metal island. We employ rapid, square-shaped QCR control voltage pulses with durations in the range of 2–350 ns and a variety of amplitudes to optimize the reset time and fidelity. Consequently, we reach a qubit ground-state probability of roughly 97% with 80-ns pulses starting from the first excited state. The qubit state probability is extracted from averaged readout signal, where the calibration is based of the Rabi oscillations, thus not distinguishing the residual thermal population of the qubit.
We demonstrate the Bloch-Siegert effect in a dispersively coupled qubit-cavity system which is driven through a quantum-to-classical transition. The observed dispersive shift of theresonance frequency displays strongly non-monotonic dependence on the number of cavity photons and escapes the scope of the analytic results obtained with either a simple rotating-wave approximation, or with a more refined counter-rotating hybridized rotating wave approach. We measured the transition energy with a weak resonant probe, and the obtained data is in a good agreement with our numerical simulations of the quasienergy spectrum.
Coupling electromagnetic waves in a cavity and mechanical vibrations via the radiation pressure of the photons is a promising platform for investigations of quantum mechanical propertiesof motion of macroscopic bodies and thereby the limits of quantum mechanics [3,4]. A drawback is that the effect of one photon tends to be tiny, and hence one of the pressing challenges is to substantially increase the interaction strength towards the scale of the cavity damping rate. A novel scenario is to introduce into the setup a quantum two-level system (qubit), which, besides strengthening the coupling, allows for rich physics via strongly enhanced nonlinearities [5-8]. Addressing these issues, here we present a design of cavity optomechanics in the microwave frequency regime involving a Josephson junction qubit. We demonstrate boosting of the radiation pressure interaction energy by six orders of magnitude, allowing to approach the strong coupling regime, where a single quantum of vibrations shifts the cavity frequency by more than its linewidth. We observe nonlinear phenomena at single-photon energies, such as an enhanced damping due to the two-level system. This work opens up nonlinear cavity optomechanics as a plausible tool for the study of quantum properties of motion.
When the transition frequency of a qubit is modulated periodically across an avoided crossing along its energy dispersion curve, tunnelling to the excited state – and consequentlyLandau-Zener-St\“uckelberg interference – can occur. The types of modulation studied so far correspond to a continuous evolution of the system along the dispersion curve. Here we introduce a type of modulation called periodic latching, in which the qubit’s free phase evolution is interrupted by sudden switches in the transition frequency. In this case, the conventional Landau-Zener-St\“uckelberg theory becomes inadequate and we develop a novel adiabatic-impulse model for the evolution of the system. We derive the resonance conditions and we identify two regimes: a slow-modulation regime and a fast-modulation regime, in which case the rotating wave approximation (RWA) can be applied to obtain analytical results. The adiabatic-impulse model and the RWA results are compared with those of a full numerical simulation. These theoretical predictions are tested in an experimental setup consisting of a transmon whose flux bias is modulated with a square wave form. A rich spectrum with distinctive features in the slow-modulation and fast-modulation (RWA) regimes is observed and shown to be in very good agreement with the theoretical models. Also, differences with respect to the well known case of sinusoidal modulation are discussed, both theoretically and experimentally.
Superconducting circuits with Josephson junctions are promising candidates
for developing future quantum technologies. Of particular interest is to use
these circuits to study effectsthat typically occur in complex
condensed-matter systems. Here, we employ a superconducting quantum bit
(qubit), a transmon, to carry out an analog simulation of motional averaging, a
phenomenon initially observed in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy.
To realize this effect, the flux bias of the transmon is modulated by a
controllable pseudo-random telegraph noise, resulting in stochastic jumping of
the energy separation between two discrete values. When the jumping is faster
than a dynamical threshold set by the frequency displacement of the levels, the
two separated spectral lines merge into a single narrow-width,
motional-averaged line. With sinusoidal modulation a complex pattern of
additional sidebands is observed. We demonstrate experimentally that the
modulated system remains quantum coherent, with modified transition
frequencies, Rabi couplings, and dephasing rates. These results represent the
first steps towards more advanced quantum simulations using artificial atoms.