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arXiv:1401.5622 · Physical Review Letters

Superconducting Quantum Node for Entanglement and Storage of Microwave Radiation

Emmanuel Flurin, Nicolas Roch, Jean-Damien Pillet, F. Mallet, Benjamin Huard

Published Mar 4, 2015• 139 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Superconducting circuits and microwave signals are good candidates to realize quantum networks, which are the backbone of quantum computers. We have realized a quantum node based on a 3D microwave superconducting cavity parametrically coupled to a transmission line by a Josephson ring modulator. We first demonstrate the time-controlled capture, storage, and retrieval of an optimally shaped propagating microwave field, with an efficiency as high as 80%. We then demonstrate a second essential ability, which is the time-controlled generation of an entangled state distributed between the node and a microwave channel.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.114.090503

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Superconducting circuits and microwave signals are good candidates to realize quantum networks, which are the backbone of quantum computers. We have realized a quantum node based on a 3D microwave superconducting cavity parametrically coupled to a transmission line by a Josephson ring modulator. We first demonstrate the time-controlled capture, storage, and retrieval of an optimally shaped propagating microwave field, with an efficiency as high as 80%. We then demonstrate a second essential ability, which is the time-controlled generation of an entangled state distributed between the node and a microwave channel.
In this thesis, I demonstrate and evaluate an on-demand source of single propagating microwaves photons. Working in the context of a quantum network, nodes are connected via propagating, nonclassical states of the electromagnetic field. As such, preparing and detecting propagating quantum states is an essential task. I work with one particular node consisting of a microfabricated, effective two level system coupled to a microwave resonator and study its ability to produce propagating nonclassical states, such as single photon states. In principle, states generated by this node could be sent to other such nodes. However, I send them into a Josephson parametric amplifier (JPA) to characterize the source. In particular, I discuss how to design and couple the two components that form my source: a fixed frequency transmon qubit and a 3D superconducting waveguide cavity. I demonstrate the ability to control of the dynamics of this combined system and implement a single photon generation protocol, which utilizes a single microwave control field that is far detuned from the photon emission frequency. To characterize the generation, I perform tomography on the propagating photon state to determine its density matrix ρ. I perform repeated JPA-backed, linear measurements of the propagating state. Based on the histograms of my measurements, I infer a maximum single photon component ρ₁₁ = 0.36 ± 0.01. I characterize the imperfections of the photon generation and detection, including detection inefficiency and measurement backaction. I find that within uncertainty my measurements match my expectation.
After years of academic development, the circuit quantum electrodynamics is entering the age of applications. This thesis was realized in this context of creating tools to bridge the gap between an astounding academic quantum system, superconducting circuits, and a grand goal, the universal quantum computer. A likely blueprint for quantum processors consists in the assembly of a large number of elementary modules arranged in a network.In this experimental thesis, a possible node for such a network, the quantum node, was developed and fabricated using state-of-the-art techniques for 2D superconducting microwave circuits. This node was first used to implement a novel sequential readout method for a superconducting qubit. This experiment, first proposed in 2013 by Sete et al., potentially allows for faster, more accurate read out of superconducting qubits. The read out of qubits is one of the several bottlenecks limiting the development of fault-tolerant superconducting quantum computers, which made this project both useful as a demonstration of the quantum node and for applications. This novel readout method achieves readout performances close to state-of-the-art of superconducting qubit readout even though the chip was not optimized for that purpose.During this work, we also contributed to two other experiments engineering quantum measurement and dissipation with superconducting circuits. First, a dedicated circuit was developed to demonstrate a new form of quantum measurement: the multiplexed photon number measurement. In that experiment led by A. Essig and Q. Ficheux, a superconducting transmon quantum bit is read out at multiple frequencies simultaneously to extract more than one bit of information about the number of photons contained in a microwave resonator coupled to that quantum bit.Second, we contributed to the experimental demonstration of the exponential suppression of bit-flips in a qubit encoded in a Schrödinger Cat state of a microwave mode. This experiment led by R. Lescanne and Z. Leghtas, demonstrates the improvement by a factor 300 of the lifetime of a qubit thanks to the autonomous error correction realized through the engineering of the dissipation of a microwave mode.
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.
Superconducting 3D microwave cavities offer state-of-the-art coherence times and a well controlled environment for superconducting qubits. In order to realize at the same time fast readout and long-lived quantum information storage, one can couple the qubit both to a low-quality readout and a high-quality storage cavity. However, such systems are bulky compared to their less coherent 2D counterparts. A more compact and scalable approach is achieved by making use of the multimode structure of a 3D cavity. In our work, we investigate such a device where a transmon qubit is capacitively coupled to two modes of a single 3D cavity. The external coupling is engineered so that the memory mode has an about 100 times larger quality factor than the readout mode. Using an all-microwave second-order protocol, we realize a lifetime enhancement of the stored state over the qubit lifetime by a factor of 666 with a ZZZ-fidelity of 82%82\%82%. We also find that this enhancement is not limited by fundamental constraints.
Circuit quantum electrodynamics is a currently very active field of research. Since the discoveries that an artificial spin, the so-called qubit, can be implemented using a superconducting non-linear circuit and can coherently interact with the electromagnetic field at the single-photon level, it has gathered strong interest for its potential for quantum computing but also for its ability to create, manipulate and detect microwave states with an exquisite precision. This manuscript describes three experiments harnessing and building on the tools and concepts developed for circuit quantum electrodynamics to couple microwave fields to other fundamental entities, namely phonons and electron spins. In a first experiment, we show the coherent coupling of superconducting to surface acoustic wave phonons. It demonstrates that acoustic waves can be used to carry quantum information and distribute entanglement. We then explore the coupling of superconducting circuits to electronic spins, and its potential for sensing and quantum information storage. The second experiment concentrates at building a high-sensitivity spectrometer able to detect spins in picoliter sized samples, targeting samples from chemical or biological origins. The third experiment is about implementing a quantum memory using a spin ensemble possessing second-long coherence. We namely explore the potential of circuit-enhanced radiation cooling to polarize the spin ensemble and enhance the efficiency of the quantum memory storage.