Quantum simulation is one of the most promising near term applications of quantum computing. Especially, systems with a large Hilbert space are hard to solve for classical computersand thus ideal targets for a simulation with quantum hardware. In this work, we study experimentally the transient dynamics in the multistate Landau-Zener model as a function of the Landau-Zener velocity. The underlying Hamiltonian is emulated by superconducting quantum circuit, where a tunable transmon qubit is coupled to a bosonic mode ensemble comprising four lumped element microwave resonators. We investigate the model for different initial states: Due to our circuit design, we are not limited to merely exciting the qubit, but can also pump the harmonic modes via a dedicated drive line. Here, the nature of the transient dynamics depends on the average photon number in the excited resonator. The greater effective coupling strength between qubit and higher Fock states results in a quasi-adiabatic transition, where coherent quantum oscillations are suppressed without the introduction of additional loss channels. Our experiments pave the way for more complex simulations with qubits coupled to an engineered bosonic mode spectrum.
Josephson tunnel junctions are the centerpiece of almost any superconducting electronic circuit, including qubits. Typically, the junctions for qubits are fabricated using shadow evaporationtechniques to reduce dielectric loss contributions from the superconducting film interfaces. In recent years, however, sub-micron scale overlap junctions have started to attract attention. Compared to shadow mask techniques, neither an angle dependent deposition nor free-standing bridges or overlaps are needed, which are significant limitations for wafer-scale processing. This comes at the cost of breaking the vacuum during fabrication, but simplifies integration in multi-layered circuits, implementation of vastly different junction sizes, and enables fabrication on a larger scale in an industrially-standardized process. In this work, we demonstrate the feasibility of a subtractive process for fabrication of overlap junctions. We evaluate the coherence properties of the junctions by employing them in superconducting transmon qubits. In time domain experiments, we find that both, the qubit life- and coherence time of our best device, are on average greater than 20 μs. Finally, we discuss potential improvements to our technique. This work paves the way towards a more standardized process flow with advanced materials and growth processes, and constitutes an important step for large scale fabrication of superconducting quantum circuits.
In this work, we experimentally study a metamaterial made of eight superconducting transmon qubits with local frequency control coupled to the mode continuum of a superconducting waveguide.By consecutively tuning the qubits to a common resonance frequency we observe the formation of super- and subradiant states as well as the emergence of a polaritonic bandgap. Making use of the qubits strong intrinsic quantum nonlinearity we study the saturation of the collective modes with increasing photon number and electromagnetically induce a transparency window in the bandgap region of the ensemble, allowing to directly control the band structure of the array. The moderately scaled circuit of this work extends experiments with one and two qubits towards a full-blown quantum metamaterial, thus paving the way for large-scale applications in superconducting waveguide quantum electrodynamics.
Experiments with superconducting circuits require careful calibration of the applied pulses and fields over a large frequency range. This remains an ongoing challenge as commercialsemiconductor electronics are not able to probe signals arriving at the chip due to its cryogenic environment. Here, we demonstrate how the on-chip amplitude and frequency of a microwave field can be inferred from the ac Stark shifts of higher transmon levels. In our time-resolved measurements, we employ a simple quantum sensing protocol, i.e. Ramsey fringes, allowing us to detect the amplitude of the systems transfer function over a range of several hundreds of MHz with an energy sensitivity on the order of 10−4. Combined with similar measurements for the phase of the transfer function, our sensing method can facilitate the microwave calibration of high fidelity quantum gates necessary for working with superconducting quantum circuits. Additionally, the potential to characterize arbitrary microwave fields promotes applications in related areas of research, such as quantum optics or hybrid microwave systems including photonic, mechanical or magnonic subsystems.
We report on spectroscopic and time-domain measurements on a fixed-frequency concentric transmon qubit in an applied in-plane magnetic field to explore its limits of magnetic fieldcompatibility. We demonstrate quantum coherence of the qubit up to field values of B=40mT, even without an optimized chip design or material combination of the qubit. The dephasing rate Γφ is shown to be not affected by the magnetic field in a broad range of the qubit transition frequency. For the evolution of the qubit transition frequency, we find the unintended second junction created in the shadow angle evaporation process to be non-negligible and deduce an analytic formula for the field-dependent qubit energies. We discuss the relevant field-dependent loss channels, which can not be distinguished by our measurements, inviting further theoretical and experimental investigation. Using well-known and well-studied standard components of the superconducting quantum architecture, we are able to reach a field regime relevant for quantum sensing and hybrid applications of magnetic spins and spin systems.
We demonstrate the local control of up to eight two-level systems interacting strongly with a microwave cavity. Following calibration, the frequency of each individual two-level system(qubit) is tunable without influencing the others. Bringing the qubits one by one on resonance with the cavity, we observe the collective coupling strength of the qubit ensemble. The splitting scales up with the square root of the number of the qubits, being the hallmark of the Tavis-Cummings model. The local control circuitry causes a bypass shunting the resonator, and a Fano interference in the microwave readout, whose contribution can be calibrated away to recover the pure cavity spectrum. The simulator’s attainable size of dressed states is limited by reduced signal visibility, and -if uncalibrated- by off-resonance shifts of sub-components. Our work demonstrates control and readout of quantum coherent mesoscopic multi-qubit system of intermediate scale under conditions of noise.