Interference experiments provide a simple yet powerful tool to unravel fundamental features of quantum physics. Here we engineer an RF-driven, time-dependent bilinear coupling thatcan be tuned to implement a robust 50:50 beamsplitter between stationary states stored in two superconducting cavities in a three-dimensional architecture. With this, we realize high contrast Hong-Ou- Mandel (HOM) interference between two spectrally-detuned stationary modes. We demonstrate that this coupling provides an efficient method for measuring the quantum state overlap between arbitrary states of the two cavities. Finally, we showcase concatenated beamsplitters and differential phase shifters to implement cascaded Mach-Zehnder interferometers, which can control the signature of the two-photon interference on-demand. Our results pave the way toward implementation of scalable boson sampling, the application of linear optical quantum computing (LOQC) protocols in the microwave domain, and quantum algorithms between long-lived bosonic memories.
A quantum computer has the potential to effciently solve problems that are intractable for classical computers. Constructing a large-scale quantum processor, however, is challengingdue to errors and noise inherent in real-world quantum systems. One approach to this challenge is to utilize modularity–a pervasive strategy found throughout nature and engineering–to build complex systems robustly. Such an approach manages complexity and uncertainty by assembling small, specialized components into a larger architecture. These considerations motivate the development of a quantum modular architecture, where separate quantum systems are combined via communication channels into a quantum network. In this architecture, an essential tool for universal quantum computation is the teleportation of an entangling quantum gate, a technique originally proposed in 1999 which, until now, has not been realized deterministically. Here, we experimentally demonstrate a teleported controlled-NOT (CNOT) operation made deterministic by utilizing real-time adaptive control. Additionally, we take a crucial step towards implementing robust, error-correctable modules by enacting the gate between logical qubits, encoding quantum information redundantly in the states of superconducting cavities. Such teleported operations have significant implications for fault-tolerant quantum computation, and when realized within a network can have broad applications in quantum communication, metrology, and simulations. Our results illustrate a compelling approach for implementing multi-qubit operations on logical qubits within an error-protected quantum modular architecture.
Large-scale quantum information processing networks will most probably require the entanglement of distant systems that do not interact directly. This can be done by performing entanglinggates between standing information carriers, used as memories or local computational resources, and flying ones, acting as quantum buses. We report the deterministic entanglement of two remote transmon qubits by Raman stimulated emission and absorption of a traveling photon wavepacket. We achieve a Bell state fidelity of 73 %, well explained by losses in the transmission line and decoherence of each qubit.
Atomic systems display a rich variety of quantum dynamics due to the different possible symmetries obeyed by the atoms. These symmetries result in selection rules that have been essentialfor the quantum control of atomic systems. Superconducting artificial atoms are mainly governed by parity symmetry. Its corresponding selection rule limits the types of quantum systems that can be built using electromagnetic circuits at their optimal coherence operation points („sweet spots“). Here, we use third-order nonlinear coupling between the artificial atom and its readout resonator to drive transitions forbidden by the parity selection rule for linear coupling to microwave radiation. A Lambda-type system emerges from these newly accessible transitions, implemented here in the fluxonium artificial atom coupled to its „antenna“ resonator. We demonstrate coherent manipulation of the fluxonium artificial atom at its sweet spot by stimulated Raman transitions. This type of transition enables the creation of new quantum operations, such as the control and readout of physically protected artificial atoms.
Most quantum-error correcting codes assume that the decoherence of each physical qubit is independent of the decoherence of any other physical qubit. We can test the validity of thisassumption in an experimental setup where a microwave feedline couples to multiple qubits by examining correlations between the qubits. Here, we investigate the correlations between fluxonium qubits located in a single waveguide. Despite being in a wide-bandwidth electromagnetic environment, the qubits have measured relaxation times in excess of 100 us. We use cascaded Josephson parametric amplifiers to measure the quantum jumps of two fluxonium qubits simultaneously. No correlations are observed between the relaxation times of the two fluxonium qubits, which indicates that the sources of relaxation are local to each qubit. Our architecture can easily be scaled to monitor larger numbers of qubits.
The quantum Zeno effect (QZE) is the apparent freezing of a quantum system in one state under the influence of a continuous observation. It has been further generalized to the stabilizationof a manifold spanned by multiple quantum states. In that case, motion inside the manifold can subsist and can even be driven by the combination of a dissipative stabilization and an external force. A superconducting microwave cavity that exchanges pairs of photons with its environments constitutes an example of a system which displays a stabilized manifold spanned by Schr\“odinger cat states. For this driven-dissipative system, the quantum Zeno stabilization transforms a simple linear drive into photon number parity oscillations within the stable cat state manifold. Without this stabilization, the linear drive would trivially displace the oscillator state and push it outside of the manifold. However, the observation of this effect is experimentally challenging. On one hand, the adiabaticity condition requires the oscillations to be slow compared to the manifold stabilization rate. On the other hand, the oscillations have to be fast compared with the coherence timescales within the stabilized manifold. Here, we implement the stabilization of a manifold spanned by Schr\“odinger cat states at a rate that exceeds the main source of decoherence by two orders of magnitude, and we show Zeno-driven coherent oscillations within this manifold. While related driven manifold dynamics have been proposed and observed, the non-linear dissipation specific to our experiment adds a crucial element: any drift out of the cat state manifold is projected back into it. The coherent oscillations of parity observed in this work are analogous to the Rabi rotation of a qubit protected against phase-flips and are likely to become part of the toolbox in the construction of a fault-tolerant logical qubit.
We present a device demonstrating a lithographically patterned transmon integrated with a micromachined cavity resonator. Our two-cavity, one-qubit device is a multilayer microwaveintegrated quantum circuit (MMIQC), comprising a basic unit capable of performing circuit-QED (cQED) operations. We describe the qubit-cavity coupling mechanism of a specialized geometry using an electric field picture and a circuit model, and finally obtain specific system parameters using simulations. Fabrication of the MMIQC includes lithography, etching, and metallic bonding of silicon wafers. Superconducting wafer bonding is a critical capability that is demonstrated by a micromachined storage cavity lifetime 34.3 μs, corresponding to a quality factor of 2 million at single-photon energies. The transmon coherence times are T1=6.4 μs, and TEcho2=11.7 μs. We measure qubit-cavity dispersive coupling with rate χqμ/2π=−1.17 MHz, constituting a Jaynes-Cummings system with an interaction strength g/2π=49 MHz. With these parameters we are able to demonstrate cQED operations in the strong dispersive regime with ease. Finally, we highlight several improvements and anticipated extensions of the technology to complex MMIQCs.
Engineered quantum systems allow us to observe phenomena that are not easily accessible naturally. The LEGO-like nature of superconducting circuits makes them particularly suited forbuilding and coupling artificial atoms. Here, we introduce an artificial molecule, composed of two strongly coupled fluxonium atoms, which possesses a tunable magnetic moment. Using an applied external flux, one can tune the molecule between two regimes: one in which the ground-excited state manifold has a magnetic dipole moment and one in which the ground-excited state manifold has only a magnetic quadrupole moment. By varying the applied external flux, we find the coherence of the molecule to be limited by local flux noise. The ability to engineer and control artificial molecules paves the way for building more complex circuits for protected qubits and quantum simulation.
We present a method for relieving aluminum 3D transmon qubits from a silicon substrate using micromachining. Our technique is a high yield, one-step deep reactive ion etch that requiresno additional fabrication processes, and results in the suspension of the junction area and edges of the aluminum film. The drastic change in the device geometry affects both the dielectric and flux noise environment experienced by the qubit. In particular, the participation ratios of various dielectric interfaces are significantly modified, and suspended qubits exhibited longer T1’s than non-suspended ones. We also find that suspension increases the flux noise experienced by tunable SQUID-based qubits.
There are two general requirements to harness the computational power of quantum mechanics: the ability to manipulate the evolution of an isolated system and the ability to faithfullyextract information from it. Quantum error correction and simulation often make a more exacting demand: the ability to perform non-destructive measurements of specific correlations within that system. We realize such measurements by employing a protocol adapted from [S. Nigg and S. M. Girvin, Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 243604 (2013)], enabling real-time selection of arbitrary register-wide Pauli operators. Our implementation consists of a simple circuit quantum electrodynamics (cQED) module of four highly-coherent 3D transmon qubits, collectively coupled to a high-Q superconducting microwave cavity. As a demonstration, we enact all seven nontrivial subset-parity measurements on our three-qubit register. For each we fully characterize the realized measurement by analyzing the detector (observable operators) via quantum detector tomography and by analyzing the quantum back-action via conditioned process tomography. No single quantity completely encapsulates the performance of a measurement, and standard figures of merit have not yet emerged. Accordingly, we consider several new fidelity measures for both the detector and the complete measurement process. We measure all of these quantities and report high fidelities, indicating that we are measuring the desired quantities precisely and that the measurements are highly non-demolition. We further show that both results are improved significantly by an additional error-heralding measurement. The analyses presented here form a useful basis for the future characterization and validation of quantum measurements, anticipating the demands of emerging quantum technologies.