Signal amplification in a qubit-resonator system

We study the dynamics of a qubit-resonator system, when the resonator is driven by two signals. The interaction of the qubit with the high-amplitude driving we consider in terms of the qubit dressed states. Interaction of the dressed qubit with the second probing signal can essentially change the amplitude of this signal. We calculate the transmission amplitude of the probe signal through the resonator as a function of the qubit's energy and the driving frequency detuning. The regions of increase and attenuation of the transmitted signal are calculated and demonstrated graphically. We present the influence of the signal parameters on the value of the amplification, and discuss the values of the qubit-resonator system parameters for an optimal amplification and attenuation of the weak probe signal.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figure

Weak continuous monitoring of a flux qubit using coplanar waveguide resonator

We study a flux qubit in a coplanar waveguide resonator by measuring transmission through the system. In our system with the flux qubit decoupled galvanically from the resonator, the intermediate coupling regime is achieved. In this regime dispersive readout is possible with weak backaction on the qubit. The detailed theoretical analysis and simulations give a good agreement with the experimental data and allow to make the qubit characterization.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, to be published in Phys. Rev.

The political import of deconstruction—Derrida’s limits?: a forum on Jacques Derrida’s specters of Marx after 25 Years, part I

Jacques Derrida delivered the basis of The Specters of Marx: The State of the Debt, the Work of Mourning, & the New International as a plenary address at the conference ‘Whither Marxism?’ hosted by the University of California, Riverside, in 1993. The longer book version was published in French the same year and appeared in English and Portuguese the following year. In the decade after the publication of Specters, Derrida’s analyses provoked a large critical literature and invited both consternation and celebration by figures such as Antonio Negri, Wendy Brown and Frederic Jameson. This forum seeks to stimulate new reflections on Derrida, deconstruction and Specters of Marx by considering how the futures past announced by the book have fared after an eventful quarter century. Maja Zehfuss, Antonio Vázquez-Arroyo and Dan Bulley and Bal Sokhi-Bulley offer sharp, occasionally exasperated, meditations on the political import of deconstruction and the limits of Derrida’s diagnoses in Specters of Marx but also identify possible paths forward for a global politics taking inspiration in Derrida’s work of the 1990s

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

Time- and momentum-resolved photoemission studies using time-of-flight momentum microscopy at a free-electron laser

Time-resolved photoemission with ultrafast pump and probe pulses is an emerging technique with wide application potential. Real-time recording of nonequilibrium electronic processes, transient states in chemical reactions, or the interplay of electronic and structural dynamics offers fascinating opportunities for future research. Combining valence-band and core-level spectroscopy with photoelectron diffraction for electronic, chemical, and structural analyses requires few 10 fs soft X-ray pulses with some 10 meV spectral resolution, which are currently available at high repetition rate free-electron lasers. We have constructed and optimized a versatile setup commissioned at FLASH/PG2 that combines free-electron laser capabilities together with a multidimensional recording scheme for photoemission studies. We use a full-field imaging momentum microscope with time-of-flight energy recording as the detector for mapping of 3D band structures in (kx, ky, E) parameter space with unprecedented efficiency. Our instrument can image full surface Brillouin zones with up to 7 Å−1 diameter in a binding-energy range of several eV, resolving about 2.5 × 105 data voxels simultaneously. Using the ultrafast excited state dynamics in the van der Waals semiconductor WSe2 measured at photon energies of 36.5 eV and 109.5 eV, we demonstrate an experimental energy resolution of 130 meV, a momentum resolution of 0.06 Å−1, and a system response function of 150 fs

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