22 research outputs found
Quantum Zeno Effect in the Quantum Non-Demolition Detection of Itinerant Photons
We analyze the detection of itinerant photons using a quantum non-demolition
(QND) measurement. We show that the backaction due to the continuous
measurement imposes a limit on the detector efficiency in such a scheme. We
illustrate this using a setup where signal photons have to enter a cavity in
order to be detected dispersively. In this approach, the measurement signal is
the phase shift imparted to an intense beam passing through a second cavity
mode. The restrictions on the fidelity are a consequence of the Quantum Zeno
effect, and we discuss both analytical results and quantum trajectory
simulations of the measurement process.Comment: 4.5 pages, 3 figure
Two-resonator circuit QED: Dissipative Theory
We present a theoretical treatment for the dissipative two-resonator circuit
quantum electrodynamics setup referred to as quantum switch. There, switchable
coupling between two superconducting resonators is mediated by a
superconducting qubit operating in the dispersive regime, where the qubit
transition frequency is far detuned from those of the resonators. We derive an
effective Hamiltonian for the quantum switch beyond the rotating wave
approximation and study the dissipative dynamics within a Bloch-Redfield
quantum master equation approach. We derive analytically how the qubit affects
the quantum switch even if the qubit has no dynamics, and we estimate the
strength of this influence. The analytical results are corroborated by
numerical calculations, where coherent oscillations between the resonators, the
decay of coherent and Fock states, and the decay of resonator-resonator
entanglement are studied. Finally, we suggest an experimental protocol for
extracting the damping constants of qubit and resonators by measuring the
quadratures of the resonator fields.Comment: 17 pages, 9 figure
Energy decay and frequency shift of a superconducting qubit from non-equilibrium quasiparticles
Quasiparticles are an important decoherence mechanism in superconducting
qubits, and can be described with a complex admittance that is a generalization
of the Mattis-Bardeen theory. By injecting non-equilibrium quasiparticles with
a tunnel junction, we verify qualitatively the expected change of the decay
rate and frequency in a phase qubit. With their relative change in agreement to
within 4% of prediction, the theory can be reliably used to infer quasiparticle
density. We describe how settling of the decay rate may allow determination of
whether qubit energy relaxation is limited by non-equilibrium quasiparticles.Comment: Main paper: 4 pages, 3 figures, 1 table. Supplementary material: 8
pages, 3 figure
Reduced phase error through optimized control of a superconducting qubit
Minimizing phase and other errors in experimental quantum gates allows higher
fidelity quantum processing. To quantify and correct for phase errors in
particular, we have developed a new experimental metrology --- amplified phase
error (APE) pulses --- that amplifies and helps identify phase errors in
general multi-level qubit architectures. In order to correct for both phase and
amplitude errors specific to virtual transitions and leakage outside of the
qubit manifold, we implement "half derivative" an experimental simplification
of derivative reduction by adiabatic gate (DRAG) control theory. The phase
errors are lowered by about a factor of five using this method to per gate, and can be tuned to zero. Leakage outside the qubit
manifold, to the qubit state, is also reduced to for
faster gates.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures with 2 page supplementa
Deterministic entanglement of photons in two superconducting microwave resonators
Quantum entanglement, one of the defining features of quantum mechanics, has
been demonstrated in a variety of nonlinear spin-like systems. Quantum
entanglement in linear systems has proven significantly more challenging, as
the intrinsic energy level degeneracy associated with linearity makes quantum
control more difficult. Here we demonstrate the quantum entanglement of photon
states in two independent linear microwave resonators, creating N-photon NOON
states as a benchmark demonstration. We use a superconducting quantum circuit
that includes Josephson qubits to control and measure the two resonators, and
we completely characterize the entangled states with bipartite Wigner
tomography. These results demonstrate a significant advance in the quantum
control of linear resonators in superconducting circuits.Comment: 11 pages, 11 figures, and 3 tables including supplementary materia
Quantum process tomography of two-qubit controlled-Z and controlled-NOT gates using superconducting phase qubits
We experimentally demonstrate quantum process tomography of controlled-Z and
controlled-NOT gates using capacitively-coupled superconducting phase qubits.
These gates are realized by using the state of the phase qubit. We
obtain a process fidelity of 0.70 for the controlled-phase and 0.56 for the
controlled-NOT gate, with the loss of fidelity mostly due to single-qubit
decoherence. The controlled-Z gate is also used to demonstrate a two-qubit
Deutsch-Jozsa algorithm with a single function query.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures, including supplementary informatio
Excitation of superconducting qubits from hot non-equilibrium quasiparticles
Superconducting qubits probe environmental defects such as non-equilibrium
quasiparticles, an important source of decoherence. We show that "hot"
non-equilibrium quasiparticles, with energies above the superconducting gap,
affect qubits differently from quasiparticles at the gap, implying qubits can
probe the dynamic quasiparticle energy distribution. For hot quasiparticles, we
predict a non-neligable increase in the qubit excited state probability P_e. By
injecting hot quasiparticles into a qubit, we experimentally measure an
increase of P_e in semi-quantitative agreement with the model and rule out the
typically assumed thermal distribution.Comment: Main paper: 5 pages, 5 figures. Supplement: 1 page, 1 figure, 1
table. Updated to user-prepared accepted version. Key changes: Supplement
added, Introduction rewritten, Figs.2,3,5 revised, Fig.4 adde
Planar Superconducting Resonators with Internal Quality Factors above One Million
We describe the fabrication and measurement of microwave coplanar waveguide
resonators with internal quality factors above 10 million at high microwave
powers and over 1 million at low powers, with the best low power results
approaching 2 million, corresponding to ~1 photon in the resonator. These
quality factors are achieved by controllably producing very smooth and clean
interfaces between the resonators' aluminum metallization and the underlying
single crystal sapphire substrate. Additionally, we describe a method for
analyzing the resonator microwave response, with which we can directly
determine the internal quality factor and frequency of a resonator embedded in
an imperfect measurement circuit.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, 1 tabl