We present a theoretical study of a hybrid circuit-quantum electrodynamics system composed of two semiconducting charge-qubits confined in a microwave resonator. The qubits are defined in terms of the charge states of two spatially separated double quantum dots (DQDs) which are coupled to the same photon mode in the microwave resonator. We analyse a transport setup where each DQD is attached to electronic reservoirs and biased out-of-equilibrium by a large voltage, and study how electron transport across each DQD is modified by the coupling to the common resonator. In particular, we show that the inelastic current through each DQD reflects an indirect qubit–qubit interaction mediated by off-resonant photons in the microwave resonator. As a result of this interaction, both charge qubits stay entangled in the steady (dissipative) state. Finite shot noise cross-correlations between currents across distant DQDs are another manifestation of this nontrivial steady-state entanglement.
We present a theoretical study of a hybrid circuit-quantum electrodynamics system composed of two semiconducting charge-qubits confined in a microwave resonator. The qubits are defined in terms of the charge states of two spatially separated double quantum dots (DQDs) which are coupled to the same photon mode in the microwave resonator. We analyse a transport setup where each DQD is attached to electronic reservoirs and biased out-of-equilibrium by a large voltage, and study how electron transport across each DQD is modified by the coupling to the common resonator. In particular, we show that the inelastic current through each DQD reflects an indirect qubit–qubit interaction mediated by off-resonant photons in the microwave resonator. As a result of this interaction, both charge qubits stay entangled in the steady (dissipative) state. Finite shot noise cross-correlations between currents across distant DQDs are another manifestation of this nontrivial steady-state entanglement.
Semiconductor qubits rely on the control of charge and spin degrees of freedom of electrons or holes confined in quantum dots (QDs). Typically, semiconductor qubit-qubit coupling is short range, effectively limiting qubit distance to the spatial extent of the wavefunction of the confined particle (a few hundred nanometers). This is a significant constraint towards scaling of QD-based architectures to realize dense 1D or 2D arrays of QDs. Inspired by techniques originally developed for circuit QED, we recently demonstrated the strong coupling of individual electrons confined in GaAs quantum dots to individual microwave photons, making use of the enhanced electric component of the vacuum fluctuations of a resonator with impedance beyond the typical 50 Ohm of standard coplanar waveguides. In this hybrid technology, we recently realized a proof of concept experiment, where the coupling between a transmon and a double QD (DQD) is mediated by virtual microwave photon excitations in a high impedance SQUID array resonator, which acts as a quantum bus enabling long-range coupling between dissimilar qubits. Similarly, we achieved coherent coupling between two DQD charge qubits separated by approximately 50 um. In the dispersive regime, we spectroscopically observed qubit-qubit coupling as an avoided-crossing in the energy spectrum of the DQD charge qubits. The methods and techniques developed in this work are transferable to QD devices based on other material systems and can be beneficial for spin based hybrid systems.
We theoretically study the non-equilibrium correlations and entanglement between distant semiconductor qubits in a one-dimensional coupled-mechanical-resonator chain. Each qubit is defined by a double quantum dot (DQD) and embedded in a mechanical resonator. The two qubits can be coupled, correlated and entangled through phonon transfer along the resonator chain. We calculate the non-equilibrium correlations and steady-state entanglement at different phonon-phonon coupling rates, and find a maximal steady entanglement induced by a population inversion. The results suggest that highly tunable correlations and entanglement can be generated by phonon-qubit hybrid system, which will contribute to the development of mesoscopic physics and solid-state quantum computation.
Coherent and strong coupling between photons and solid-state qubits, in the form of circuit quantum electrodynamics (QED), has been harnessed for two-qubit gates mediated by photons and high-fidelity quantum non-demolition readout, which are the building blocks of large-scale quantum computation. Recently, circuit QED has been extended to gate-defined semiconductor quantum dots. In this thesis, we develop a novel hybrid circuit QED architecture composed of a high-impedance superconducting microwave resonator and spins localized in silicon-MOS quantum dots. To control and measure the spin degrees of freedom, this hybrid system needs to operate at finite magnetic field. Consequently, we develop and characterize microwave resonators based on thin niobium nitride (NbN) films featuring a high kinetic inductance. We demonstrate high-impedance resonators with magnetic field resilience and low photon loss rates. We then co-integrate the NbN resonators on silicon spin qubit chips. With a hole confined in a double quantum dot (DQD), we report the first realization of a strong hole charge-photon interaction bordering the ultra-strong coupling regime. At finite magnetic field, putting the spin transition energy in resonance with the microwave cavity, we observe large vacuum Rabi mode splittings, signature of a strong spin-photon coupling. Our findings are well captured by the modelling of a hole DQD with different anisotropic Zeeman response in each dot and spin-orbit coupling dependent tunnel rates. We also find a sizeable spin-photon coupling when the hole is localized in the single quantum dot, in line with recent theoretical predictions. The different works presented in this manuscript pave the way for circuit QED with hole spins in gate-defined semiconductor quantum dots.
We investigate photon-mediated transport processes in a hybrid circuit-QED structure consisting of two double quantum dots coupled to a common microwave cavity. Under suitable resonance conditions, electron transport in one double quantum dot is facilitated by the transport in the other dot via photon-mediated processes through the cavity. We calculate the average current in the quantum dots, the mean cavity photon occupation, and the current cross-correlations with both a full numerical simulation and a recursive perturbation scheme that allows us to include the influence of the cavity order-by-order in the couplings between the cavity and the quantum dot systems. We can then clearly identify the photon-mediated transport processes.
We investigate photon-mediated transport processes in a hybrid circuit-QED structure consisting of two double quantum dots coupled to a common microwave cavity. Under suitable resonance conditions, electron transport in one double quantum dot is facilitated by the transport in the other dot via photon-mediated processes through the cavity. We calculate the average current in the quantum dots, the mean cavity photon occupation, and the current cross-correlations with both a full numerical simulation and a recursive perturbation scheme that allows us to include the influence of the cavity order-by-order in the couplings between the cavity and the quantum dot systems. We can then clearly identify the photon-mediated transport processes.
Quantum computing is a powerful way of improving computing efficiency. For some specific problems, quantum processor can exponentially reduce computation time compared to the classical computer. Cavity quantum electrodynamics, which studies the coherent interaction between photons in an optical cavity and atoms or other two-level systems, is of enormous significance to quantum computing and quantum information processing. The strong coupling regime where a cavity photon mode and an atom exchange a single quantum energy coherently has attracted extensive interest in varied experimental platforms and systems such as alkali atoms, Rydberg atoms, large spin ensembles, magnons, etc. The semiconductor gate-defined double quantum dot (DQD) system is one of the most promising platforms that possesses advantages of advanced micro-nano processing technology and outstanding scalability. Introducing the concept of cavity QED into superconducting circuits (circuit QED, cQED), provides an opportunity to study interaction between electrons confined in semiconductor DQD and photons trapped in a superconducting resonator. Reaching strong coupling regime in this hybrid system paves the way to large-scale network of quantum computing. Electrons confined in DQD have large electrical dipoles, thus are able to couple to photons with relatively large coupling rate. Whereas, due to the charge noise and other dissipation channels in the hybrid system, the decoherence rate of the system is larger than the coupling rate, leaving the strong coupling a great challenge. In recent years, different methods have been proposed to access the strong coupling regime. Taking advantage of a high-quality heterojunction structure, an overlapping gate architecture and a low-pass LC filter on the DC bias line, the decoherence of the charge qubit and microwave leakage of the resonator can be effectively suppressed. The coupling strength of the hybrid system can be improved utilizing a high impedance resonator which is comprised of high kinetic inductance materials. Spin, which does not interact directly with the electric field, is insensitive to charge noise and has much longer decoherence time than charge qubit. However, the weak interaction results in a small coupling rate between the spin and the photon. To solve this problem, the method of coherent hybridization between the spin and the charge state is proposed to improve the coupling strength. This hybridization can be achieved by applying a non-uniform magnetic field, utilizing spin-orbit interaction or spin exchange interaction. At present, both charge qubits and spin qubits have achieved strong coupling with the cavity and the coupling distance between long-range qubits is greatly expanded as long as millimeters. This review introduces basic ideas about cQED and fundamental elements in semiconductor cQED systems. Recent progress in strong coupling hybrid system and methods for improving coupling structures are discussed. In future research, more efforts will be devoted into long-range transfer of qubit states and photon-mediated two or multi-qubit gates.