Design of deeply cooled ultra-low dissipation amplifier and measuring cell for quantum measurements with a microwave single-photon counter

The requirements and details of designing a measuring cell and low-back-action deeply-cooled amplifier for quantum measurements at 10 mK are discussed. This equipment is a part of a microwave single-photon counter based on a superconducting flux qubit. The high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) in the amplifier operate in unsaturated microcurrent regime and dissipate only 1 microwatt of dc power per transistor. Simulated amplifier gain is 15 dB at 450 MHz with a high-impedance (~5 kOhm signal source and standard 50-Ohm output.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures. To be published in Fizika Nizkikh Temperatur (Low Temperature Physics) vol. 50, No.1 (2024

Experimental system design for the integration of trapped-ion and superconducting qubit systems

We present a design for the experimental integration of ion trapping and superconducting qubit systems as a step towards the realization of a quantum hybrid system. The scheme addresses two key difficulties in realizing such a system: a combined microfabricated ion trap and superconducting qubit architecture, and the experimental infrastructure to facilitate both technologies. Developing upon work by Kielpinski et al. (Phys Rev Lett 108(13):130504, 2012. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.130504), we describe the design, simulation and fabrication process for a microfabricated ion trap capable of coupling an ion to a superconducting microwave LC circuit with a coupling strength in the tens of kHz. We also describe existing difficulties in combining the experimental infrastructure of an ion trapping set-up into a dilution refrigerator with superconducting qubits and present solutions that can be immediately implemented using current technology

Dressed-state amplification by a superconducting qubit

We demonstrate amplification of a microwave signal by a strongly driven two-level system in a coplanar waveguide resonator. The effect known from optics as dressed-state lasing is observed with a single quantum system formed by a persistent current (flux) qubit. The transmission through the resonator is enhanced when the Rabi frequency of the driven qubit is tuned into resonance with one of the resonator modes. Amplification as well as linewidth narrowing of a weak probe signal has been observed. The laser emission at the resonator's fundamental mode has been studied by measuring the emission spectrum. We analyzed our system and found an excellent agreement between the experimental results and the theoretical predictions obtained in the dressed-state model.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Reflection-enhanced gain in traveling-wave parametric amplifiers

The operating principle of traveling-wave parametric amplifiers is typically understood in terms of the standard coupled mode theory, which describes the evolution of forward propagating waves without any reflections, i.e., for perfect impedance matching. However, in practice, superconducting microwave amplifiers are unmatched nonlinear finite-length devices, where the reflecting waves undergo complex parametric processes, not described by the standard coupled mode theory. Here, we present an analytical solution for the TWPA gain, which includes the interaction of reflected waves. These reflections result in corrections to the well-known results of the standard coupled mode theory, which are obtained for both three-wave and four-wave mixing processes. Due to these reflections, the gain is enhanced and unwanted nonlinear phase modulations are suppressed. Predictions of the model are experimentally demonstrated on two types of unmatched TWPA, based on coplanar waveguides with a central wire consisting of (i) a high kinetic inductance superconductor, and (ii) an array of 2000 Josephson junctions