Rare earth spin ensemble magnetically coupled to a superconducting resonator

Interfacing superconducting quantum processors, working in the GHz frequency range, with optical quantum networks and atomic qubits is a challenging task for the implementation of distributed quantum information processing as well as for quantum communication. Using spin ensembles of rare earth ions provide an excellent opportunity to bridge microwave and optical domains at the quantum level. In this letter, we demonstrate magnetic coupling of Er$^{3+}$ spins doped in Y$_{2}$SiO$_{5}$ crystal to a high-Q coplanar superconducting resonator.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Random telegraph fluctuations in granular microwave resonators

Microwave circuit electrodynamics of disordered superconductors is a very active research topic spawning a wide range of experiments and applications. For compact superconducting circuit elements, the transition to an insulating state poses a limit to the maximum attainable kinetic inductance. It is, therefore, vital to study the fundamental noise properties of thin films close to this transition, particularly in situations where a good coherence and temporal stability is required. In this paper, we present measurements on superconducting granular aluminum microwave resonators with high normal state resistances, where the influence of the superconductor to insulator phase transition is visible. We trace fluctuations of the fundamental resonance frequency and observe, in addition to a 1/f noise pattern, a distinct excess noise, reminiscent of a random telegraph signal. The excess noise shows a strong dependency on the resistivity of the films as well as the sample temperature but not on the applied microwave power

Aluminium-oxide wires for superconducting high kinetic inductance circuits

We investigate thin films of conducting aluminium-oxide, also known as granular aluminium, as a material for superconducting high quality, high kinetic inductance circuits. The films are deposited by an optimised reactive DC magnetron sputter process and characterised using microwave measurement techniques at milli-Kelvin temperatures. We show that, by precise control of the reactive sputter conditions, a high room temperature sheet resistance and therefore high kinetic inductance at low temperatures can be obtained. For a coplanar waveguide resonator with 1.5\,k$\Omega$ sheet resistance and a kinetic inductance fraction close to unity, we measure a quality factor in the order of 700\,000 at 20\,mK. Furthermore, we observe a sheet resistance reduction by gentle heat treatment in air. This behaviour is exploited to study the kinetic inductance change using the microwave response of a coplanar wave guide resonator. We find the correlation between the kinetic inductance and the sheet resistance to be in good agreement with theoretical expectations.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figure