Schrödinger cat states, quantum superpositions of macroscopically distinct classical states, are an important resource for quantum communication, quantum metrology and quantum computation.Especially, cat states in a phase space protected against phase-flip errors can be used as a logical qubit. However, cat states, normally generated in three-dimensional cavities, are facing the challenges of scalability and controllability. Here, we present a novel strategy to generate and store cat states in a coplanar superconducting circuit by the fast modulation of Kerr nonlinearity. At the Kerr-free work point, our cat states are passively preserved due to the vanishing Kerr effect. We are able to prepare a 2-component cat state in our chip-based device with a fidelity reaching 89.1% under a 96 ns gate time. Our scheme shows an excellent route to constructing a chip-based bosonic quantum processor.
We study microwave response of a Josephson parametric oscillator consisting of a superconducting transmission-line resonator with an embedded dc-SQUID. The dc-SQUID allows to controlthe magnitude of a Kerr nonlinearity over the ranges where it is smaller or larger than the photon loss rate. Spectroscopy measurements reveal the change of the microwave response from a classical Duffing oscillator to a Kerr parametric oscillator in a single device. In the single-photon Kerr regime, we observe parametric oscillations with a well-defined phase of either 0 or π, whose probability can be controlled by an externally injected signal.
We propose a two-qubit quantum logic gate between a superconducting atom and a propagating microwave photon. The atomic qubit is encoded on its lowest two levels and the photonic qubitis encoded on its carrier frequencies. The gate operation completes deterministically upon reflection of a photon, and various two-qubit gates (SWAP, SWAP‾‾‾‾‾‾‾√, and Identity) are realized through {\it in situ} control of the drive field. The proposed gate is applicable to construction of a network of superconducting atoms, which enables gate operations between non-neighboring atoms.
The parametric phase-locked oscillator (PPLO), also known as a parametron, is a resonant circuit in which one of the reactances is periodically modulated. It can detect, amplify, andstore binary digital signals in the form of two distinct phases of self-oscillation. Indeed, digital computers using PPLOs based on a magnetic ferrite ring or a varactor diode as its fundamental logic element were successfully operated in 1950s and 1960s. More recently, basic bit operations have been demonstrated in an electromechanical resonator, and an Ising machine based on optical PPLOs has been proposed. Here, using a PPLO realized with Josephson-junction circuitry, we demonstrate the demodulation of a microwave signal digitally modulated by binary phase-shift keying. Moreover, we apply this demodulation capability to the dispersive readout of a superconducting qubit. This readout scheme enables a fast and latching-type readout, yet requires only a small number of readout photons in the resonator to which the qubit is coupled, thus featuring the combined advantages of several disparate schemes. We have achieved high-fidelity, single-shot, and non-destructive qubit readout with Rabi-oscillation contrast exceeding 90%, limited primarily by the qubit’s energy relaxation.
By driving a dispersively coupled qubit-resonator system, we realize an „impedance-matched“ Λ system that has two identical radiative decay rates from the top level andinteracts with a semi-infinite waveguide. It has been predicted that a photon input from the waveguide deterministically induces a Raman transition in the system and switches its electronic state. We confirm this through microwave response to a continuous probe field, observing near-perfect (99.7%) extinction of the reflection and highly efficient (74%) frequency down-conversion. These proof-of-principle results lead to deterministic quantum gates between material qubits and microwave photons and open the possibility for scalable quantum networks interconnected with waveguide photons.
We report single-shot readout of a superconducting flux qubit by using a flux-driven Josephson parametric amplifier (JPA). After optimizing the readout power, gain of the JPA and timingof the data acquisition, we observe the Rabi oscillations with a contrast of 74% which is mainly limited by the bandwidth of the JPA and the energy relaxation of the qubit. The observation of quantum jumps between the qubit eigenstates under continuous monitoring indicates the nondestructiveness of the readout scheme.