A squeezed mechanical oscillator with milli-second quantum decoherence

The development of mechanical oscillator-based hybrid quantum systems has allowed quantum state preparation and measurements of macroscopic mechanical systems. These systems need to satisfy the dichotomy of engineered coupling to an auxiliary degree of freedom, while being mechanically well isolated from the environment, which induces both thermal decoherence and dephasing. Here we demonstrate a micro-mechanical oscillator coupled to a superconducting microwave circuit with a thermal decoherence rate of only 20.5 Hz (130 quanta/second motional heating rate) and a dephasing rate of 0.09 Hz - on par with and better than, respectively, what has been achieved with trapped ions. This allows us to directly track the free evolution of a squeezed mechanical state over milli-second timescales. Such ultra-low quantum decoherence not only increases the fidelity of quantum control over macroscopic mechanical systems, but may equally benefit mechanical oscillator-based schemes for quantum computing and transduction, fundamental tests of quantum mechanics itself, or searches for dark matter. (Keywords: Quantum optomechanics, Superconducting circuit electromechanics, Quantum squeezing, Quantum memory

Superconducting circuit optomechanics in topological lattices

Cavity optomechanics enables controlling mechanical motion via radiation pressure interaction, and has contributed to the quantum control of engineered mechanical systems ranging from kg scale LIGO mirrors to nano-mechanical systems, enabling ground-state preparation, entanglement, squeezing of mechanical objects, position measurements at the standard quantum limit, non-reciprocal photon transport, and quantum transduction. Yet, nearly all prior schemes have employed single- or few-mode op-tomechanical systems. In contrast, novel dynamics and applications are expected when utilizing optomechanical arrays and lattices, which enable to synthesize non-trivial band structures, and have been actively studied in the field of circuit QED. Superconducting microwave optomechanical circuits are a promising platform to implement such lattices, but have been compounded by strict scaling limitations. Here, we overcome this challenge and realize superconducting circuit optomechanical lattices. We demonstrate non-trivial topological microwave modes in 1D optomechanical chains realizing the canonical Su-Schrieffer-Heeger (SSH) model. Furthermore, we realize the strained graphene model in a 2D optomechanical honeycomb lattice. Exploiting the embedded optomechanical interaction, we show that it is possible to directly measure the mode functions of the bulk modes, as well as the topologically protected edge states, without using any local probe or inducing perturbation. This enables us to reconstruct the full underlying lattice Hamiltonian. Such optomechanical lattices, accompanied by the measurement techniques introduced, offers an avenue to explore out of equilibrium physics in optomechanical lattices such as collective, quantum many-body, and quench dynamics, topological properties and more broadly, emergent nonlinear dynamics in complex optomechanical systems with a large number of degrees of freedoms.Comment: Updated version with a comprehensive discussion on strained graphene mode

Breaking the trade-off between fast control and long lifetime of a superconducting qubit

The rapid development in designs and fabrication techniques of superconducting qubits has helped making coherence times of qubits longer. In the near future, however, the radiative decay of a qubit into its control line will be a fundamental limitation, imposing a trade-off between fast control and long lifetime of the qubit. In this work, we successfully break this trade-off by strongly coupling another superconducting qubit along the control line. This second qubit, which we call a Josephson quantum filter (JQF), prevents the qubit from emitting microwave photons and thus suppresses its relaxation, while faithfully transmitting large-amplitude control microwave pulses due to the saturation of the quantum filter, enabling fast qubit control. We observe an improvement of the qubit relaxation time without a reduction of the Rabi frequency. This device could potentially help in the realization of a large-scale superconducting quantum information processor in terms of the heating of the qubit environments and the crosstalk between qubits.Comment: 22 pages, 13 figures, 1 tabl