We have embedded an artificial atom, a superconducting transmon qubit, in an open transmission line and investigated the strong scattering of incident microwave photons (∼6 GHz). When an input coherent state, with an average photon number N≪1 is on resonance with the artificial atom, we observe extinction of up to 99.6% in the forward propagating field. We use two-tone spectroscopy to study scattering from excited states and we observe electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). We then use EIT to make a single-photon router, where we can control to what output port an incoming signal is delivered. The maximum on-off ratio is around 99% with a rise and fall time on the order of nanoseconds, consistent with theoretical expectations. The router can easily be extended to have multiple output ports and it can be viewed as a rudimentary quantum node, an important step towards building quantum information networks.
We have embedded an artificial atom, a superconducting transmon qubit, in an open transmission line and investigated the strong scattering of incident microwave photons (∼6 GHz). When an input coherent state, with an average photon number N≪1 is on resonance with the artificial atom, we observe extinction of up to 99.6% in the forward propagating field. We use two-tone spectroscopy to study scattering from excited states and we observe electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). We then use EIT to make a single-photon router, where we can control to what output port an incoming signal is delivered. The maximum on-off ratio is around 99% with a rise and fall time on the order of nanoseconds, consistent with theoretical expectations. The router can easily be extended to have multiple output ports and it can be viewed as a rudimentary quantum node, an important step towards building quantum information networks.
The realization of a quantum network composed of quantum nodes which process quantum fields and quantum channels to transfer quantum information has recently been proposed. In recent years, fundamental experiments produced by superconducting circuits suggest that they are promising candidates for realization of a quantum network. Superconducting circuit QED can act as quantum nodes, which can be linked by quantum channels, to transfer flying microwave photons (quantum information) from site to site on chip with high fidelity. Therefore, controlling the propagating microwave photons on chip is an essential step towards realization of a quantum network.In this thesis, we demonstrate a specific quantum node, namely the single photon router. The active element of the router is a single three-level artificial atom, a superconducting transmon type qubit, strongly coupled to a superconducting 1D transmission line. Strong coupling between the artificial atom and propagating microwave photons, revealed in high degree scattering of the resonance waves, has been observed. By exploiting the phenomenon of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT), we can route a single photon signal from an input port to either of two output ports with an on-off ratio of approximately 90%. The switching time of the router is shown to be a few nanoseconds, consistent with theoretical expectations and the device parameters. Besides the router, we also observed some fundamental phenomenon of single atom, such as strong nonlinearity, anomalous dispersion and the Mollow Triplet.This thesis describes the motivation, theoretical background, design, implementation and the measurement results.
We address recent advances in quantum optics with propagating microwaves\nin superconducting circuits. This research field exploits on the fact that the coupling between a superconducting artificial atom and propagating microwave photons in a one-dimensional (1D) open transmission line can be made strong enough to observe quantum effects, without using any cavity to confine the microwave photons.\nWe embed an artificial atom, a superconducting transmon qubit, in a 1D open\ntransmission line and investigate the scattering properties of coherent microwaves. When an input coherent state, with an average photon number much less than 1, is on resonance with the artificial atom, we observe extinction of up to 99% in the forward propagating field. We observe the strong nonlinearity of the artificial atom and under strong driving we observe the Mollow triplet. We also study the statistics of the reflected and transmitted beams, which are predicted to be nonclassical states. In particular, we demonstrate photon antibunching in the reflected beam by measuring the second-order correlation function. By applying a second control tone, we observe the Autler-Townes splitting and a giant cross-Kerr effect.\nFurthermore, we demonstrate fast operation of a single-photon router using\nthe Autler-Townes splitting. This device provides important steps towards the realization of a quantum network. This thesis describes the motivation, theoretical background, design, implementation and measurement results.
We address recent advances in microwave quantum optics with artificial atoms in one-dimensional (1D) open space. This field relies on the fact that the coupling between a superconducting artificial atom and propagating microwave photons in a 1D open transmission line can be made strong enough to observe quantum coherent effects, without using any cavity to confine the microwave photons. We investigate the scattering properties in such a system with resonant coherent microwaves. We observe the strong nonlinearity of the artificial atom and under strong driving we observe the Mollow triplet. By applying two resonant tones, we also observe the Autler–Townes splitting. Exploiting these effects, we demonstrate two quantum devices at the single-photon level in the microwave regime: the single-photon router and the photon-number filter. These devices provide important steps toward the realization of an on-chip quantum network.
We report the first experimental realization of a scalable basic cell for quantum routing, enabling coherent control and exchange of microwave photons between two spatially separated superconducting waveguides coupled via a single transmon qubit. The cell was characterized at 10 mK with an average input signal of approximately 1 photon at approximately 6 GHz, and with the qubit biased to its optimal point to minimize sensitivity to external magnetic fluctuations. By combining steady-state and time-domain measurements, we reconstructed the key parameters of the system, including qubit relaxation and dephasing, waveguide-qubit couplings, and cross-waveguide photon transfer efficiency. The observed performance is consistent with a non-Hermitian Hamiltonian formalism and demonstrates clear limits set by flux bias, temperature, and photon number, in agreement with flux- and temperature-induced dephasing models. Crucially, the cell operates reliably at the single-photon level, and in the high-photon regime we directly observe photon dressing induced by the qubit. These results establish a versatile platform for studying open quantum system phenomena and pave the way for scalable implementations of quantum routing and network nodes.
We demonstrate theoretically a scheme for realizing a single-photon router in a cavity electromechanical system. When a weak probe field is tuned on resonance with the microwave cavity, we can use a strong control field to choose to what output port of this probe field is delivered, which is based on the analogue of electromagnetically induced transparency effect in this coupled system. Routing between the reflection output port and the transmission output port can be achieved by turning off and on the control field. The router proposed here opens a good perspective for its applications in photonic quantum information networks.
The quantum router is an elementary building block in quantum information processing and quantum communication. This work constitutes a step forward in this direction, i.e., an efficient scheme is proposed for the implementation of a nonreciprocal single-photon quantum router, allowing the routing of a single photon from one side but blocking it from the other side. Our model consists of two directly coupled coplanar-waveguide resonators and a superconducting ring resonator, which are connected together through a transmission line. The nonreciprocity is realized by unidirectionally interacting the rotating microwave modes of the ring resonator with a dissipative magnon mode in an yttrium iron garnet disk. We find that a single-photon signal can be delivered from a given input port to either of the two output ports, but is fully absorbed from the opposite one. The proposed scheme not only enriches the family of nonreciprocal quantum devices, but also finds useful applications in chiral quantum technologies.