A particular superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) qubit, namely the double SQUID qubit, can be manipulated by rapidly modifying its potential with the application of fast flux pulses.In this system we observe coherent oscillations exhibiting non-exponential decay, indicating an unconventional decoherence mechanism.Moreover, via tuning the qubit in different conditions (different oscillation frequencies) by changing the pulse height, we observe a crossover between two distinct decoherence regimes and the existence of an 'optimal' point where the qubit is only weakly sensitive to intrinsic noise.We find that this behavior is in agreement with a model considering the decoherence caused essentially by low-frequency noise contributions, and we discuss the experimental results and possible issues.
A particular superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) qubit, namely the double SQUID qubit, can be manipulated by rapidly modifying its potential with the application of fast flux pulses.In this system we observe coherent oscillations exhibiting non-exponential decay, indicating an unconventional decoherence mechanism.Moreover, via tuning the qubit in different conditions (different oscillation frequencies) by changing the pulse height, we observe a crossover between two distinct decoherence regimes and the existence of an 'optimal' point where the qubit is only weakly sensitive to intrinsic noise.We find that this behavior is in agreement with a model considering the decoherence caused essentially by low-frequency noise contributions, and we discuss the experimental results and possible issues.
A double SQUID qubit (Superconducting Quantum Interference Device) can be handled by applying microwave trains, but also by using fast flux pulses. In this second case the manipulation is based on the fast and radical modification of the qubit potential shape that induces non-adiabatic transitions between the computational states (the two lowest energy eigenstates), still avoiding transitions to upper levels. This modality is interesting because it allows faster operations with respect to other techniques, but also because it gives access to interesting nontrivial physical features, concerning in particular decoherence and adiabaticity. About decoherence, we observed experimentally the existence of an “optimal” bias region and the transition between two distinct decoherence regimes. These results can be explained by considering the effect of first and second order slow fluctuations which dominate on high frequency noise contributions. This allows a deep insight in the qubit decoherence mechanisms.
Superconducting devices based on the Josephson effect are effectively used for the implementation of qubits and quantum gates. The manipulation of superconducting qubits is generally performed by using microwave pulses with frequencies from 5 to 15 GHz, obtaining a typical operating frequency from 100 MHz to 1 GHz. A manipulation based on simple pulses in the absence of microwaves is also possible. In our system, a magnetic flux pulse modifies the potential of a double SQUID qubit from a symmetric double well to a single deep-well condition. By using this scheme with a Nb/AlO x /Nb system, we obtained coherent oscillations with sub-nanosecond period (tunable from 50 to 200 ps), very fast with respect to other manipulating procedures, and with a coherence time up to 10 ns, of the order of that obtained with similar devices and technologies but using microwave manipulation. We introduce ultrafast manipulation, presenting experimental results, new issues related to this approach (such as the use of a compensation procedure for canceling the effect of 'slow' fluctuations) and open perspectives, such as the possible use of RSFQ logic for qubit control.
At low temperature and low damping, the magnetic flux of a rf Superconducting QUantum Interference Device (SQUID) acts as a macroscopic quantum variable whose dynamic is described by a double well potential. A rf SQUID consists of a superconducting loop interrupted by a thin insulating barrier, known as a Josephson junction. The modified rf SQUID design discussed in this thesis has independent, in situ, controls that allow varying the barrier height between the potential wells and their relative tilt. This high level of control of the potential together with the capability to implement an experimental setup optimized to reduce coupling to external sources of noise, made this system ideal not only for tests of quantum transition at a macroscopic level, but also as a scalable solid state device for quantum computation. A variety of measurements of quantum phenomena are reported in this thesis, including microwave level spectroscopy, coherent oscillations, and macroscopic resonant tunneling (MRT). These measurements are compared with theoretical models to study the possible sources of decoherence in a rf SQUID qubit. The analysis confirmed that the main source of decoherence is not due to coupling to the external environment, but it can be linked to intrinsic low frequency flux noise. Work from many groups over the last several years has shown that the performance of a superconductive qubit is limited by coupling to spurious defects in the materials used for the device fabrication. In this work we analyze the possibility of using the MRT as a tool for future studies of effects of materials and fabrication process in the realization of improved qubits, and we also explore the feasibility for measurements of quantum phenomena that involve fast pulsing of the potential barrier height.
By quickly modifying the shape of the effective potential of a double SQUID flux qubit from a single-well to a double-well condition, we experimentally observe an anomalous behavior, namely, an alternation of resonance peaks, in the probability to find the qubit in a given flux state. The occurrence of Landau-Zener transitions as well as resonant tunneling between degenerate levels in the two wells may be invoked to partially justify the experimental results. A quantum simulation of the time evolution of the system indeed suggests that the observed anomalous behavior can be imputable to quantum coherence effects. The interplay among all these mechanisms has a practical implication for quantum computing purposes, giving a direct measurement of the limits on the sweeping rates possible for a correct manipulation of the qubit state by means of fast flux pulses, avoiding transitions to noncomputational states.
This thesis discusses a series of experimental and theoretical studies on fast control and decoherence in superconducting quantum circuits. These two subjects are complementary aspects of the problem of improving the gate fidelities in quantum information processing devices based on superconducting circuits. \n \nIn the first part of this thesis, we present experiments on fast control of a superconducting flux qubit using strong driving. We explore driving with short pulses and a driving strength significantly exceeding the transition frequency. The observed dynamics is described in terms of quasienergies and quasienergy states, in agreement with Floquet theory. We observe the role of pulse shaping in the dynamics, as determined by non-adiabatic transitions between Floquet states. In addition, based on adiabatic perturbation theory in the Floquet picture, we propose a control scheme for fast and high-fidelity single-qubit operations with strong driving. These results pave the way to quantum control with a fidelity beyond the threshold of fault-tolerant quantum computation. \n \nIn the second part of this thesis, we discuss experimental methods and present the characterization of decoherence in superconducting resonators and superconducting qubits. Firstly, we present an analysis method on the measurements of photon loss in superconducting resonators. We use this method to characterize the microwave loss of aluminum oxide, an important material in superconducting circuits. The power and temperature dependence of the measured loss is consistent with loss due to two-level defects in amorphous materials. Secondly, we present experimental results on decoherence and noise spectroscopy of a superconducting flux qubit. Using the qubit as a noise spectrometer, we perform detailed measurements on the power spectral density of the flux noise in superconducting circuits over a wide range of frequencies, from 10^-3 to 10^8 Hz, and over a temperature range from 35 to 130 mK. We also present measurements of frequency and temperature dependence of the qubit energy relaxation.