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arXiv:1308.5130 · Physical Review Letters

Towards Realizing a Quantum Memory for a Superconducting Qubit: Storage and Retrieval of Quantum States

Shiro Saito, Xiaobo Zhu, Robert Amsüss, Yuichiro Matsuzaki, Kosuke Kakuyanagi, Takaaki Shimo-Oka, Norikazu Mizuochi, Kae Nemoto, William J. Munro, Kouichi Semba

Published Sep 5, 2013• 112 citations
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Abstract

We have built a hybrid system composed of a superconducting flux qubit (the processor) and an ensemble of nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond (the memory) that can be directly coupled to one another, and demonstrated how information can be transferred from the flux qubit to the memory, stored, and subsequently retrieved. We have established the coherence properties of the memory and succeeded in creating an entangled state between the processor and memory, demonstrating how the entangled state's coherence is preserved. Our results are a significant step towards using an electron spin ensemble as a quantum memory for superconducting qubits.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.111.107008

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We have built a hybrid system composed of a superconducting flux qubit (the processor) and an ensemble of nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond (the memory) that can be directly coupled to one another, and demonstrated how information can be transferred from the flux qubit to the memory, stored, and subsequently retrieved. We have established the coherence properties of the memory and succeeded in creating an entangled state between the processor and memory, demonstrating how the entangled state's coherence is preserved. Our results are a significant step towards using an electron spin ensemble as a quantum memory for superconducting qubits.
We propose a method to achieve coherent coupling between nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond and superconducting (SC) flux qubits. The resulting coupling can be used to create a coherent interaction between the spin states of distant NV centers mediated by the flux qubit. Furthermore, the magnetic coupling can be used to achieve a coherent transfer of quantum information between the flux qubit and an ensemble of NV centers. This enables a long-term memory for a SC quantum processor and possibly an interface between SC qubits and light.
We report the experimental realization of a hybrid quantum circuit combining a superconducting qubit and an ensemble of electronic spins. The qubit, of the transmon type, is coherently coupled to the spin ensemble consisting of nitrogen-vacancy centers in a diamond crystal via a frequency-tunable superconducting resonator acting as a quantum bus. Using this circuit, we prepare a superposition of the qubit states that we store into collective excitations of the spin ensemble and retrieve back into the qubit later on. These results constitute a proof of concept of spin-ensemble based quantum memory for superconducting qubits.
We propose a quantum memory scheme to transfer and store the quantum state of a superconducting flux qubit (FQ) into the electron spin of a single nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond via yttrium iron garnet (YIG), a ferromagnet. Unlike an ensemble of NV centers, the YIG moderator can enhance the effective FQ-NV-center coupling strength without introducing additional appreciable decoherence. We derive the effective interaction between the FQ and the NV center by tracing out the degrees of freedom of the collective mode of the YIG spins. We demonstrate the transfer, storage, and retrieval procedures, taking into account the effects of spontaneous decay and pure dephasing. Using realistic experimental parameters for the FQ, NV center and YIG, we find that a combined transfer, storage, and retrieval fidelity higher than 0.9, with a long storage time of 10 ms, can be achieved. This hybrid system not only acts as a promising quantum memory, but also provides an example of enhanced coupling between various systems through collective degrees of freedom.
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We propose how to realize high-fidelity quantum storage using a hybrid quantum architecture including two coupled flux qubits and a nitrogen-vacancy center ensemble (NVE). One of the flux qubits is considered as the quantum-computing processor and the NVE serves as the quantum memory. By separating the computing and memory units, the influence of the quantum-computing process on the quantum memory can be effectively eliminated, and hence the quantum storage of an arbitrary quantum state of the computing qubit could be achieved with high fidelity. Furthermore, the present proposal is robust with respect to fluctuations of the system parameters, and it is experimentally feasible with currently available technology.