We study photonic heat conduction between two resistors coupled weakly to a single superconducting microwave cavity. At low enough temperature, the dominant part of the heat exchanged between the resistors is transmitted by single-photon excitations of the fundamental mode of the cavity. This manifestation of single-photon heat conduction should be experimentally observable with the current state of the art. Our scheme can possibly be utilized in remote interference-free temperature control of electric components and environment engineering for superconducting quantum bits coupled to cavities.
We study photonic heat conduction between two resistors coupled weakly to a single superconducting microwave cavity. At low enough temperature, the dominant part of the heat exchanged between the resistors is transmitted by single-photon excitations of the fundamental mode of the cavity. This manifestation of single-photon heat conduction should be experimentally observable with the current state of the art. Our scheme can possibly be utilized in remote interference-free temperature control of electric components and environment engineering for superconducting quantum bits coupled to cavities.
We build on the study of single-photon heat conduction in electronic circuits taking into account the back-action of the superconductor--insulator--normal-metal thermometers. In addition, we show that placing capacitors, resistors, and superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs) into a microwave cavity can severely distort the spatial current profile which, in general, should be accounted for in circuit design. The introduction of SQUIDs also allows for in situ tuning of the photonic power transfer which could be utilized in experiments on superconducting quantum bits.
We report our recent work on developing artificial electromagnetic environments for superconducting devices. Previously, we have showed that single-photon heat conduction between two resistors embedded in a superconducting cavity can be achieved [1]. Here, we modify this setup to provide in-situ control of the photonic heat power [2] and open up the possibility to tune the coupling strength between the artificial environment and the desired component in the cavity by several orders of magnitude. Our results provide an efficient pathway to control the lifetime of a superconducting quantum bit, qubit, allowing for rapid initialization to the ground state at will and unhindered normal operation as desired [3].
Superconducting quantum bits are one of the leading frontrunners in the race to build a solid-state quantum computer. In circuit quantum electrodynamics (cQED), electronic quantum circuits, playing the role of quantum bits, qubits, are placed into superconducting cavities with incredibly weak dissipation. The resulting system exhibits both photon and qubit characteristics, and it is possible to perform complex operations by driving the system with microwaves. Progress has been rapid, with vast improvements in cavities, qubits, and in controlling the interaction between the two. As a result, the first simple quantum algorithms to utilize this architecture have recently been implemented. \nAt the same time, there have been significant developments in improving our understanding of the heat flow in nanoelectronics. In particular the development of tunnel junctions has reached such a level, that it is now possible to control and measure the temperature of small metal islands with high precision. Such techniques have enabled the first observations of quantum-limited heat conduction through the photonic modes of a circuit. \nThis thesis introduces some of the benefits that come with the unification of these two fields. Theoretical models for experiments in a superconducting cavity are presented, with heat conduction due to individual cavity photons discussed in detail, along with a novel method to vary the lifetime of a qubit over many orders of magnitude. The realisation of these experiments would be the first steps on the road to integrating normal-metal components with cQED.
We report an experimental realization of a three-terminal photonic heat transport device based on a superconducting quantum circuit. The central element of the device is a flux qubit made of a superconducting loop containing three Josephson junctions, which can be tuned by magnetic flux. It is connected to three resonators terminated by resistors. By heating one of the resistors and monitoring the temperatures of the other two, we determine photonic heat currents in the system and demonstrate their tunability by magnetic field at the level of 1 aW. We determine system parameters by performing microwave transmission measurements on a separate nominally identical sample and, in this way, demonstrate clear correlation between the level splitting of the qubit and the heat currents flowing through it. Our experiment is an important step towards realization of heat transistors, heat amplifiers, masers pumped by heat and other quantum heat transport devices.
Superconducting microwave circuits are a ubiquitous and important tool for devices that exploit the phenomena of superconductivity and cryogenic temperatures as an environment for achieving the generation, manipulation, and detection of quantum states - required for the ongoing development of quantum technologies. In particular, superconducting circuits are a promising platform for the universal quantum computer, which will require an unprecedented density of quantum-coherent elements to perform large-scale quantum-enhanced calculations and simulations, using the framework of cavity quantum lectrodynamics.Dissipation and heat in these superconducting circuits is a key source of error and inefficiency, however the thermodynamics in this regime is poorly understood despite its increasing relevancy.This thesis describes the integration of superconducting resonators and artificial atoms derived from superconducting quantum circuits with ultra-sensitive bolometry, for looking at heat transport through superconducting circuits. We will describe the physics and operation of each of these elements, before combining and utilising them to perform heat transport measurements through a superconducting artificial atom coupled to two resonators, each terminated by a normal-metal mesoscopic resistor, with the resistor temperature measured and temperature gradients across the circuit induced by superconducting tunnel-probes. We will present tunable heat transport through this system, firstly when the resonators are symmetric, allowing us to observe the role of dissipation-limited coupling of the resonators to the artificial atom on the locality of the heat transport, then on an asymmetric system, demonstrating a directional rectification of the heat transport. Additionally, we will discuss how each element of the system can be individually characterised, in particular the quality factor of superconducting resonators in the highly-dissipative limit, by exploiting the superconducting transition to perform a background reference. It is suggested that this hybrid quantum system, and these initial experiments provide a promising platform in the emergent field of circuit quantum thermodynamics. We believe that the techniques and tools developed during this thesis present key steps towards the understanding of the thermodynamics of quantum circuits, towards the realisation of devices that can explore heat transport in the quantum limit, such as a quantum heat engine.
Circuit quantum electrodynamics offers versatile opportunities for various discoveries infundamental physics, as well as for different applications such as sensitive detectors and,ultimately, even a large-scale quantum computer. Since these devices work at cryogenictemperatures and excess heat is a substantial source of errors, it is of great importance to controlthe heat. In this thesis, several techniques for heat control are experimentally investigated. We study heattransfer carried by photons between two heat baths, as well as heat flow between superconductingresonators and their environment. In particular, the focus is on using normal-metal componentsto enhance the operation of superconducting microwave circuits operating at the level of singleenergy quanta. First, we investigate long-distance single-channel heat conduction near the quantum limit, i.e.,the quantum of thermal conductance. As compared to earlier experiments, the distance is increasedby a factor of 10,000. In addition, we demonstrate emission and absorption of photons in amicrowave resonator by photon-assisted tunneling in normal-metal–insulator–superconductorjunctions. Another approach for absorbing photons is to use a normal-metal resistor in asuperconducting resonator with a tunable resonance frequency. Finally, we realize a circuitconsisting of two resonators with a singularity in the parameter space, known as an exceptionalpoint. In our circuit, the exceptional point enables the fastest possible heat transfer between thetwo resonators without back and forth oscillation. In the future, these methods may find applications in different cryogenic devices, including a fastinitialization of qubits. Furthermore, the methods may be utilized in the experimental studies offundamental physics, including further investigations of exceptional points in differentconfigurations.