210 research outputs found
Detection of a persistent-current qubit by resonant activation
We present the implementation of a new scheme to detect the quantum state of
a persistent-current qubit. It relies on the dependency of the measuring
Superconducting Quantum Interference Device (SQUID) plasma frequency on the
qubit state, which we detect by resonant activation. With a measurement pulse
of only 5ns, we observed Rabi oscillations with high visibility (65%).Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, submitted to PRB Rapid Co
Parametric coupling for superconducting qubits
We propose a scheme to couple two superconducting charge or flux qubits
biased at their symmetry points with unequal energy splittings. Modulating the
coupling constant between two qubits at the sum or difference of their two
frequencies allows to bring them into resonance in the rotating frame.
Switching on and off the modulation amounts to switching on and off the
coupling which can be realized at nanosecond speed. We discuss various physical
implementations of this idea, and find that our scheme can lead to rapid
operation of a two-qubit gate.Comment: 6 page
Relaxation and Dephasing in a Flux-qubit
We report detailed measurements of the relaxation and dephasing time in a
flux-qubit measured by a switching DC SQUID. We studied their dependence on the
two important circuit bias parameters: the externally applied magnetic flux and
the bias current through the SQUID in two samples. We demonstrate two
complementary strategies to protect the qubit from these decoherence sources.
One consists in biasing the qubit so that its resonance frequency is stationary
with respect to the control parameters ({\it optimal point}) ; the second
consists in {\it decoupling} the qubit from current noise by chosing a proper
bias current through the SQUID. At the decoupled optimal point, we measured
long spin-echo decay times of up to .Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Letter
Quantum Heating of a nonlinear resonator probed by a superconducting qubit
We measure the quantum fluctuations of a pumped nonlinear resonator, using a
superconducting artificial atom as an in-situ probe. The qubit excitation
spectrum gives access to the frequency and temperature of the intracavity field
fluctuations. These are found to be in agreement with theoretical predictions;
in particular we experimentally observe the phenomenon of quantum heating
Dephasing of a superconducting qubit induced by photon noise
We have studied the dephasing of a superconducting flux-qubit coupled to a
DC-SQUID based oscillator. By varying the bias conditions of both circuits we
were able to tune their effective coupling strength. This allowed us to measure
the effect of such a controllable and well-characterized environment on the
qubit coherence. We can quantitatively account for our data with a simple model
in which thermal fluctuations of the photon number in the oscillator are the
limiting factor. In particular, we observe a strong reduction of the dephasing
rate whenever the coupling is tuned to zero. At the optimal point we find a
large spin-echo decay time of .Comment: New version of earlier paper arXiv/0507290 after in-depth rewritin
Circuit QED with a Nonlinear Resonator : ac-Stark Shift and Dephasing
We have performed spectroscopic measurements of a superconducting qubit
dispersively coupled to a nonlinear resonator driven by a pump microwave field.
Measurements of the qubit frequency shift provide a sensitive probe of the
intracavity field, yielding a precise characterization of the resonator
nonlinearity. The qubit linewidth has a complex dependence on the pump
frequency and amplitude, which is correlated with the gain of the nonlinear
resonator operated as a small-signal amplifier. The corresponding dephasing
rate is found to be close to the quantum limit in the low-gain limit of the
amplifier.Comment: Paper : 4 pages, 3 figures; Supplementary material : 1 page, 1 figur
Asymmetry and decoherence in a double-layer persistent-current qubit
Superconducting circuits fabricated using the widely used shadow evaporation
technique can contain unintended junctions which change their quantum dynamics.
We discuss a superconducting flux qubit design that exploits the symmetries of
a circuit to protect the qubit from unwanted coupling to the noisy environment,
in which the unintended junctions can spoil the quantum coherence. We present a
theoretical model based on a recently developed circuit theory for
superconducting qubits and calculate relaxation and decoherence times that can
be compared with existing experiments. Furthermore, the coupling of the qubit
to a circuit resonance (plasmon mode) is explained in terms of the asymmetry of
the circuit. Finally, possibilities for prolonging the relaxation and
decoherence times of the studied superconducting qubit are proposed on the
basis of the obtained results.Comment: v.2: published version; 8 pages, 12 figures; added comparison with
experiment, improved discussion of T_ph
Crossover from weak to strong coupling regime in dispersive circuit QED
We study the decoherence of a superconducting qubit due to the dispersive
coupling to a damped harmonic oscillator. We go beyond the weak
qubit-oscillator coupling, which we associate with a phase Purcell effect, and
enter into a strong coupling regime, with qualitatively different behavior of
the dephasing rate. We identify and give a physicaly intuitive discussion of
both decoherence mechanisms. Our results can be applied, with small
adaptations, to a large variety of other physical systems, e. g. trapped ions
and cavity QED, boosting theoretical and experimental decoherence studies.Comment: Published versio
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