Quantum estimation of parameter in circuit QED by continuous quantum measurement

  1. Cheng Zhang,
  2. Kai Zhou,
  3. Wei Feng,
  4. and Xin-Qi Li
Designing high-precision and efficient schemes is of crucial importance for quantum parameter estimation in practice. The estimation scheme based on continuous quantum measurement is
one possible type of this, which looks also the most natural choice in case such as continuous dynamical process. In this work we specify the study to the stat-of-the-art superconducting circuit quantum-electrodynamics (QED) system, where the high-quality continuous measurement has been extensively exploited in the past decade. Within the framework of Bayesian estimation and particularly using the quantum Bayesian rule in circuit QED, we numerically simulate the likelihood function as estimator for the Rabi frequency of qubit oscillation. We find that, by proper design of the interaction strength of measurement, the estimate precision can scale with the measurement time beyond the standard quantum limit, which is usually assumed for this type of continuous measurement since no more special quantum resource is involved. We understand this remarkable result by quantum correlation in time between the output signals, and simulate the effect of quantum efficiency of the measurement on the precision scaling behavior.

Gradual partial-collapse theory for ideal nondemolition measurements of qubits in circuit QED

  1. Wei Feng,
  2. Cheng Zhang,
  3. Zhong Wang,
  4. Lupei Qin,
  5. and Xin-Qi Li
The conventional method of qubit measurements in circuit QED is employing the dispersive regime of qubit-cavity coupling, which results in an approximated scheme of quantum nondemolition
(QND) readout. However, this scheme breaks down owing to the Purcell effect in the case of strong coupling and/or strong measurement drive. To remove the drawbacks of the dispersive readout, a recent proposal by virtue of longitudinal coupling suggests a new scheme to realize fast, high-fidelity and ideal QND readout of qubit state. In the present work, following dispersive readout, we construct the gradual partial-collapse theory for this new measurement scheme, in terms of both the quantum trajectory equation and quantum Bayesian approach. The longitudinal coupling provides as well a convenient method of cavity reset. In combination with the reset procedure, the established theory is expected to be useful for such as measurement-based feedback control and many other quantum applications associated with partial-collapse weak measurements.

Qubit state tomography in superconducting circuit via weak measurements

  1. Lupei Qin,
  2. Luting Xu,
  3. Wei Feng,
  4. and Xin-Qi Li
The standard method of „measuring“ quantum wavefunction is the technique of {it indirect} quantum state tomography. Owing to conceptual novelty and possible advantages,
an alternative {\it direct} scheme was proposed and demonstrated recently in quantum optics system. In this work we present a study on the direct scheme of measuring qubit state in the circuit QED system, based on weak measurement and weak value concepts. To be applied to generic parameter conditions, our formulation and analysis are carried out for finite strength weak measurement, and in particular beyond the bad-cavity and weak-response limits. The proposed study is accessible to the present state-of-the-art circuit-QED experiments.

Exact quantum Bayesian rule for qubit measurements in circuit QED

  1. Wei Feng,
  2. Pengfei Liang,
  3. Lupei Qin,
  4. and Xin-Qi Li
Developing efficient and reliable schemes for practical quantum measurements is of essential importance to quantum information science and quantum metrology. In this work, for the increasingly
important superconducting circuit-QED setup, we present a rigorous approach starting with the quantum trajectory equation (QTE) to establish an {\it exact} quantum Bayesian rule. For the „realistic“ back-action (no qubit state information gain), we obtain important correction factors for arbitrary setup parameters. For the „spooky“ information gain back-action, we establish new prior distribution knowledge for the Bayesian inference, which differ from the standard Gaussian distribution and ensure to give strictly the same results as that by numerically integrating the QTE. Compared to the QTE approach, while keeping the same accuracy, the obtained quantum Bayesian rule has much higher efficiency to compute the stochastic change of the measured state. The generic method of this work opens also a new way to construct exact quantum Bayesian rules for quantum measurement in other systems.

Weak values in continuous weak measurement of qubits

  1. Lupei Qin,
  2. Pengfei Liang,
  3. and Xin-Qi Li
For continuous weak measurement of qubits, we obtain exact expressions for weak values (WVs) from the post-selection restricted average of measurement outputs, by using both the quantumtrajectory-
equation (QTE) and quantum Bayesian approach. The former is applicable to short-time weak measurement, while the latter can relax the measurement strength to finite. We find that even in the „very“ weak limit the result can be essentially different from the one originally proposed by Aharonov, Albert and Vaidman (AAV), in a sense that our result incorporates non-perturbative correction which could be important when the AAV’s WV is large. Within the Bayesian framework, we obtain also elegant expressions for finite measurement strength and find that the amplifier’s noise in quantum measurement has no effect on the WVs. In particular, we obtain very useful result for homodyne measurement in circuit-QED system, which allows for measuring the real and imaginary parts of the AAV’s WV by simply tuning the phase of the local oscillator. This advantage can be exploited as efficient state-tomography technique.

Quantum Bayesian rule for weak measurements of qubits in superconducting circuit QED

  1. Peiyue Wang,
  2. Lupei Qin,
  3. Xin-Qi Li,
  4. and Franco Nori
There exist two scenarios of quantum weak measurement theories. One is the well-known quantum trajectory theory which, in terms of continuous differential equation, has been broadly
applied in quantum optics and quantum control problems. Another is the relatively newer quantum Bayesian approach, which has the advantage of being more efficient to infer the state of the measured quantum system merely based on certain integrated output of measurements. In this work, we aim to develop a quantum Bayesian rule for weak measurements of qubits in circuit quantum electrodynamics (QED). Starting with the optical quantum trajectory equation, our analysis pays particular attention to the nature of the cavity field under continuous quadrature monitoring. This allows our treatment unrestricted to the „bad-cavity“ and weak-response limits, thus making the obtained rule applicable to general setup parameters. With accuracy well proven numerically in this work, we expect this proposed approach to be useful for future circuit-QED measurement and control experiments.

Generation and stabilization of a three-qubit entangled W state in circuit QED via quantum feedback control

  1. Shang-Yu Huang,
  2. Hsi-Sheng Goan,
  3. Xin-Qi Li,
  4. and G. J. Milburn
Circuit cavity quantum electrodynamics (QED) is proving to be a powerful platform to implement quantum feedback control schemes due to the ability to control superconducting qubits
and microwaves in a circuit. Here, we present a simple and promising quantum feedback control scheme for deterministic generation and stabilization of a three-qubit W state in the superconducting circuit QED system. The control scheme is based on continuous joint Zeno measurements of multiple qubits in a dispersive regime, which enables us not only to infer the state of the qubits for further information processing but also to create and stabilize the target W state through adaptive quantum feedback control. We simulate the dynamics of the proposed quantum feedback control scheme using the quantum trajectory approach with an effective stochastic maser equation obtained by a polaron-type transformation method and demonstrate that in the presence of moderate environmental decoherence, the average state fidelity higher than 0.9 can be achieved and maintained for a considerable long time (much longer than the single-qubit decoherence time). This control scheme is also shown to be robust against measurement inefficiency and individual qubit decay rate differences. Finally, the comparison of the polaron-type transformation method to the commonly used adiabatic elimination method to eliminate the cavity mode is presented.