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arXiv:1204.0732 · Physical Review Letters

Generating Entangled Microwave Radiation Over Two Transmission Lines

Emmanuel Flurin, Nicolas Roch, F. Mallet, Michel Devoret, Benjamin Huard

Published Oct 31, 2012• 272 citations
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Abstract

Using a superconducting circuit, the Josephson mixer, we demonstrate the first experimental realization of spatially separated two-mode squeezed states of microwave light. Driven by a pump tone, a first Josephson mixer generates, out of quantum vacuum, a pair of entangled fields at different frequencies on separate transmission lines. A second mixer, driven by a π-phase shifted copy of the first pump tone, recombines and disentangles the two fields. The resulting output noise level is measured to be lower than for the vacuum state at the input of the second mixer, an unambiguous proof of entanglement. Moreover, the output noise level provides a direct, quantitative measure of entanglement, leading here to the demonstration of 6 Mebit · s(-1) (mega entangled bits per second) generated by the first mixer.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.109.183901

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Using a superconducting circuit, the Josephson mixer, we demonstrate the first experimental realization of spatially separated two-mode squeezed states of microwave light. Driven by a pump tone, a first Josephson mixer generates, out of quantum vacuum, a pair of entangled fields at different frequencies on separate transmission lines. A second mixer, driven by a π-phase shifted copy of the first pump tone, recombines and disentangles the two fields. The resulting output noise level is measured to be lower than for the vacuum state at the input of the second mixer, an unambiguous proof of entanglement. Moreover, the output noise level provides a direct, quantitative measure of entanglement, leading here to the demonstration of 6 Mebit · s(-1) (mega entangled bits per second) generated by the first mixer.
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This thesis presents the experimental achievements of (1) generating entangled-microwave fields propagating on two physically separate transmission lines and (2) verifying the entangled states with efficient measurements. Shared entanglement between two parties is an essential resource for quantum information processing and quantum communication protocols. Experimentally, entangled pairs of electromagnetic fields can be realized by distributing a squeezed vacuum over two separated modes. As a result, entanglement is revealed by the strong cross-correlations between specific quadratures of the two modes. Although it is possible to verify the presence of entanglement with low-efficiency quadrature measurements, higher detection efficiencies are desired for performing protocols that exploit entanglement with high fidelity.\nIn the microwave regime, Josephson parametric amplifiers (JPAs) fulfill the two major tasks mentioned above: JPAs prepare the required squeezed states to generate entanglement and enable us to perform efficient quadrature measurements. Therefore, for the purposes of entanglement generation and verification, ultralow-noise--frequency-tunable JPAs have been developed. Additionally, to increase the efficiency of entanglement generation, we integrate JPAs with two on-chip microwave passive components, a directional coupler and a quadrature hybrid, to form an entangler circuit. The two-mode entangled states are created at the two output modes of the entangler and are measured with a two-channel measurement apparatus where each of the two channels incorporates a JPA as a single-quadrature preamplifier. By employing this measurement scheme, the two measured quadratures of the two output modes can be chosen independently of each other, enabling a full characterization of the two-mode state. To definitively demonstrate the two-mode entanglement, I prove that the measured quadrature variances satisfy the inseparability criterion.
This thesis work explores unique features offered by the Josephson mixer in the upcoming field of microwave quantum optics. We have demonstrated three major roles the Josephson mixer could play in emerging quantum information architectures. First, we have designed and fabricated a state-of-the-art practical quantum limited amplifier with the best quantum efficiency achieved to date. This tool is crucial for probing mesoscopic systems with microwaves, and in particular superconducting circuits. Hence, it has enabled us to realize successfully the stabilization of quantum trajectories of a superconducting qubit by measurement-based feedback. Second, we have shown how this circuit can generate and distribute entangled microwave radiations on separated transmission lines at different frequencies. Using two Josephson mixers, we have provided the first demonstration of entanglement between spatially separated propagating fields in the microwave domain, the so-called Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen states. Finally, we have used the Josephson mixer as a frequency converter. Acting as a switch, it is able to dynamically turn on and off the coupling to a low loss cavity. This feature allowed us to realize a quantum memory for microwaves. In combination with the ability to generate entanglement, we have measured the time-controlled generation, storage and on-demand release of an entangled state, which is a prerequisite for nodes of a quantum network.
We study controllable generation of two-mode-entangled states in a circuit QED setup, which consists of two spatially separated superconducting transmission line resonators and a single gap-tunable superconducting qubit. Two sharp coupling sidebands are induced when the artificial atom is suitably driven by a bichromatic microwave field. The two resonators can have squeezing-type interactions with the qubit via the coupling sidebands. If the two resonators are not degenerate, we show that the two resonators can be cooled down into the two-mode squeezed vacuum via dissipation of the qubit. The generation of the two-mode squeezed state is based on a dissipative state-engineering process, which explores the energy relaxation of the qubit as a resource. Moreover, the scheme does not need both the specific preparation of the initial state and the designed special dynamical process of the system. If the resonators are degenerate, we show that entangled coherent states of the resonators can be generated by use of the unitary dynamical evolution process of the system and the state-projection measurement. Moreover, macro entangled coherent states of the resonators with huge photons can in principle be created if the resonators and the qubit have sufficiently long lifetimes. The present scheme has two remarkable features: (1) only a single qubit is used in the generation of the two-mode squeezed state; and (2) the ultrastrong coupling condition and initializing the resonators in coherent states are not required. These make the present scheme more simple and feasible in experimental implementation.
A fundamental property of the quantum vacuum is that a time-varying boundary condition for the electro-magnetic field can generate photons from the vacuum, the so-called the dynamical Casimir effect (DCE). The photons are created pairwise and should possess the particular quantum correlations referred to as entanglement. In particular, broadband entanglement sources are useful for two reasons: i) they can be very bright, generating a large number of entangled photons, and ii) the wide frequency content allows shaping the emitted radiation in time. Here we present the observation of entanglement generated in a broadband system using the DCE. The measured sample consists of a superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) terminating a microwave transmission line. A magnetic flux modulates the SQUID's Josephson inductance at approximately 9~GHz, resulting in a time-varying boundary condition for the quantum vacuum in the transmission line. We detect both quadratures of the microwave radiation emitted at two different frequencies separated by 0.7~GHz. Analysing the measured data and using a careful calibration of the power level emitted from the sample, we determine the purity and type of entanglement using two different methods. We estimate an entanglement rate of 5~Mebit/s (mega entangled bits per second).
Entangled pairs of microwave photons are commonly produced in the narrow frequency band of a resonator, which represents a modified vacuum density of states. We generate and investigate the entanglement of a stream of photon pairs, generated in a semi-infinite broadband transmission line, terminated by a superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID). A weak pump signal modulates the SQUID inductance, resulting in a single time-varying boundary condition, and we detect all four quadratures of the microwave radiation emitted at two different frequencies separated by 0.7 GHz. Power calibration is done in situ, and we find positive logarithmic negativity and two-mode squeezing below the vacuum in the observed radiation, indicating entanglement.