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arXiv:1706.06821 · Journal of Physics Conference Series

Microwave photon generation in a doubly tunable superconducting resonator

I-M. Svensson, M. Pierre, Michaël Simoen, Waltraut Wustmann, Philip Krantz, Andreas Bengtsson, Göran Johansson, Jonas Bylander, Vitaly S. Shumeiko, Per Delsing

Published Mar 1, 2018• 15 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We have created a doubly tunable resonator, with the intention to simulate relativistic motion of the resonator boundaries in real space. Our device is a superconducting coplanar-waveguide microwave resonator, with fundamental resonant frequency ω 1 / (2 π ) ~ 5 GHz. Both of its ends are terminated to ground via dc-SQUIDs, which serve as magnetic-flux-controlled inductances. Applying a flux to either SQUID allows the tuning of ω 1 / (2 π ) by approximately 700 MHz. Using two separate on-chip magnetic-flux lines, we modulate the SQUIDs with two tones of equal frequency, close to 2 ω 1 . We observe photon generation, at ω 1 , above a certain pump amplitude threshold. By varying the relative phase of the two pumps we are able to control this threshold, in good agreement with a theoretical model. At the same time, some of our observations deviate from the theoretical predictions, which we attribute to parasitic couplings resulting in current driving of the SQUIDs.

DOI
10.1088/1742-6596/969/1/012146

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We have created a doubly tunable resonator, with the intention to simulate relativistic motion of the resonator boundaries in real space. Our device is a superconducting coplanar-waveguide microwave resonator, with fundamental resonant frequency ω 1 / (2 π ) ~ 5 GHz. Both of its ends are terminated to ground via dc-SQUIDs, which serve as magnetic-flux-controlled inductances. Applying a flux to either SQUID allows the tuning of ω 1 / (2 π ) by approximately 700 MHz. Using two separate on-chip magnetic-flux lines, we modulate the SQUIDs with two tones of equal frequency, close to 2 ω 1 . We observe photon generation, at ω 1 , above a certain pump amplitude threshold. By varying the relative phase of the two pumps we are able to control this threshold, in good agreement with a theoretical model. At the same time, some of our observations deviate from the theoretical predictions, which we attribute to parasitic couplings resulting in current driving of the SQUIDs.
In November 2011 the first experimental observation of the dynamical Casimir effect was published [1]. Superconducting circuits were used to show that a single mirror moving in vacuum could generate photons, by parametric amplification of vacuum uctuations. This project is a side track of this research where a second mirror is introduced to investigate photon generation in-between the mirrors. The work includes both theory studies and experimental practice. Resonators have been fabricated on chip in a cleanroom and measured in a dilution refrigerator. The focus has been on how the different boundary conditions of the resonator field affect the photon generation. A superconducting circuit has been used including a = 2/2 resonator with two SQUIDs inducing tunability of the resonance frequency via on-chip ux tuning lines. The two SQUIDs are placed in each end of the cavity in order to simulate moving mirrors. The mirrors are used to modulate the boundary conditions of the cavity. This is done by changing the SQUID inductance which is achieved by applying a magnetic ux to the SQUID loop. Depending on if the mirrors move in or out of phase, a breathing or translational mode can be created in the cavity. Theory predicts photon generation in different modes depending on if the pump frequency is two or three times the resonance frequency [2]. Measurements have been done at a temperature of around 50mK, which is low enough to have a negligible amount of thermal photons and quasi-particles in the cavity. The static tuning of the resonator have been probed by sweeping the uxes applied to the two SQUIDs and at each point the resonance frequency has been extracted. Good results have been achieved and two dimensional tuning is shown. A high frequency, ux modulation have been applied to the SQUIDs both one at a time and simultaneously to generate photons. In the two mirror modulation case qualitative agreement with theory has been observed for driving in the breathing and translational mode respectively. Generation occurs first for the breathing mode at 2*omega (twice the resonance frequency) and for the translational mode at 3*omega.
In this thesis I present different types of manipulations of microwave fields using tunable superconducting resonators. A resonator is made tunable by adding one or more superconducting quantum interference devices, SQUIDs. The SQUID consists of a superconducting loop with two Josephson junctions and acts as a tunable nonlinear inductor. Modulation of the SQUID nonlinearity can be performed to induce different types of non-trivial oscillator dynamics. The first project I present is on subharmonic oscillations. Here, the SQUID in a tunable resonator is driven with an external signal at an integer multiple of the frequency w. When w is placed slightly below the first resonator mode, I show generation of radiation at w, which is known as frequency down-conversion. In my measurements, subharmonic oscillations have been detected from period doubling up to period quintupling. For the specific case of period tripling, theory is developed and I show good agreement between theory and experiments. The second project of the thesis is on a doubly tunable resonator. Here, I show creation of a superconducting resonator with two independently tunable boundary conditions. The idea with this system is to operate the resonator in a breathing or a translational mode and compare the two. For static dc magnetic flux the performance is very good. As a second step, I perform fast modulation of both SQUIDs to generate radiation. Even though some of the measurement results are promising, I also show some contradicting observations. These indicate that the actual modulation mechanism of the SQUID is not pumping of the magnetic flux in the SQUID loop as intended, but rather direct current driving of the SQUID. However, the system remains a promising idea for microwave manipulation and creation of interesting non-classical states. As a possible application of the doubly tunable resonator, I present a theory proposal on how to use it for measurements on relativistic effects. By using the tunability of the resonator boundary conditions, the resonator can simulate a space rocket and time dilation could be measured. However, due to the crosstalk problems in the doubly tunable resonator this experiment was never realized. Finally, I finish the thesis by presenting a design for a tunable microwave coupling. Papers E and F show a high on-off ratio for the coupler and demonstrate how it can be used for storage of microwave signals. Furthermore, the tunable coupler can be used to shape a microwave signal by tuning the strength of the coupling.
We propose an efficient method for the generation of perfect W states on three microwave superconducting resonators, of which the two nearest neighbors are coupled by a symmetric direct current superconducting quantum interference device (dc-SQUID). With suitable external magnetic fluxes applied to the dc-SQUID symmetry loops, on-chip tunable interactions between neighboring resonators can be realized, and different perfect W states can be deterministically created on-demand in one step. Numerical simulations show that high-fidelity target states can be generated and our scheme is robust against imperfect parameter tuning and environment-induced decoherence. The present work may have potential applications for implementing quantum computation and quantum information processing based on microwave photons.
In this licentiate thesis, I present the design, fabrication, and characterization of superconducting parametric resonators, for use in quantum information processing. These devices are quarter-wavelength coplanar waveguide resonators (~5 GHz), terminated at one end by a non-linear inductance provided by a SQUID (superconducting quantum interference device). The SQUID acts as a flux-controlled boundary condition, which effectively changes the electrical length of the resonator. This enables the modulation of the resonant frequency by coupling microwave magnetic flux into the SQUID, using on-chip transmission lines. The modulation occurs on a timescale much faster than the photon loss out of the resonator. The non-linearity provides several different regimes for operating this device. I focused on the parametric regime, in which the non-linear element was being modulated (pumped) at or near twice the resonant frequency. This pumping can lead to amplification and frequency conversion of an incoming signal. It can also give rise to instabilities and self-oscillations "parametric oscillations" - that is, the generation of an intense electric field in the resonator (the creation of photons). Parametric oscillations set in when the pumping strength exceeds a threshold value, and also depends on the pump-frequency detuning from twice the resonance and on the static flux through the SQUID. I characterized the devices over a wide parameter range by doing homodyne detection of the reflected signal or of the emitted field oscillations. In particular, I investigated the damping and two leading nonlinearities, dominating in different operating regimes, which influence the dynamics of the parametric resonator. First, I extracted the Duffing nonlinearity by studying the line width of the resonator as a function of the input signal (without pumping the SQUID). Second, with high pump amplitude, I extracted the pump-induced nonlinearity by determining the threshold parameters (pump amplitude and detuning) for the onset of parametric oscillations; this nonlinearity leads to the generation of higher-order pump terms that complicate the system dynamics, but can be mitigated now that they have been understood. My results validate a recent theoretical model for the classical, non-linear dynamics of parametric resonance, and helps determine workable design parameters. Finally, I helped develop a linearized model −-− the "pumpistor" - describing this device in terms of a flux-controlled impedance. This will be useful when designing more complex circuits. One goal of this work is to demonstrate single-shot measurements on superconducting qubits (quantum bits of information). We will use the parametric resonator as a threshold discriminator, associating the qubit's two energy eigenstates with the parametric oscillations either turning on or not. This would be a very useful device in the quantum engineer's toolbox when designing systems for quantum information processing and communication.
Controllable coupling between the odd and even fundamental modes of an asymmetric half-wavelength superconducting coplanar waveguide resonator is demonstrated. The resonant frequency of the even mode Ωe could be tuned by an external magnetic field, while the resonant frequency of the odd mode Ωo is field independent. To realize the tunability of Ωe, the central conductor of the NbN-based resonator was galvanically coupled to an array of Al-based rf-SQUIDs (radio frequency superconducting quantum interferometer device). These rf-SQUIDs are placed in only one resonator gap, ensuring its strong asymmetry. By adjusting the appropriate external magnetic flux Φ, equal frequencies of both modes were obtained. At this resonant point Ωo(Φ)=Ωe(Φ) an avoided level crossing of the eigenfrequencies was observed, demonstrating the coupling between the odd and even fundamental modes.
In this Master thesis, I present a theoretical description and experimental measurements of a tunable microwave resonator operated as a parametric amplifier. Superconducting parametric amplifiers have attracted great interest in recent years as it has been demonstrated that they can operate with a noise performance at the standard quantum limit. \nParametric amplification is achieved in the devices by modulating the electrical length of the resonator at twice the resonance frequency. The device measured in this thesis consists of a quarter-wavelength microwave resonator fabricated in a thin-film aluminum coplanar waveguide geometry. With a termination to ground through a Superconducting Quantum Interference Device (SQUID), the boundary condition of the resonator becomes sensitive to an applied magnetic field. This enables the tuning of the resonance frequencies, using a DC magnetic field, over a wide frequency range of 670MHz. Similarly, an AC magnetic field then allows for the modulation of the resonator electrical length at microwave frequencies. \nWe characterized the device by first measuring the DC tuning curves of the 2nd and 3rd harmonics of the resonator, around 4 GHz and 6 GHz respectively. We then studied parametric amplification in the device when the electrical length was modulated at approximately twice the resonance frequency of one of the modes. We scanned the pump frequency and pump power over a wide range to study the region in parameters which gives parametric gain. We performed an in-depth parameter sweep over this region, identifying pump parameters that provided maximum gain and maximum system noise improvements compared the following HEMT amplifier. \nWe find that the use of the parametric amplifier can improve the system noise temperature by more than 10 dB compared to a start-of-the-art commercial HEMT amplifier. This implies a performance near the standard quantum limit.