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arXiv:1707.00681 · IEEE International Workshop on Metrology for AeroSpace (MetroAeroSpace)

Accurate switching currents measurements in quantum washboard potential

Vincenzo Claudio Pierro, Giovanni Filatrella

Published Jun 1, 2016• 0 citations
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Abstract

We tackle the problem of accurate simulations of switching currents arising from tunnel events in the washboard potentials associated to Josephson junctions. The measurements of the probability distribution of the switching currents is essential to determine the quantum character of the device, and therefore is at the core of technological applications, as Josephson junctions, that have been proposed for quantum computers. In particular, we show how to accurately calibrate the parameters of the boundary conditions to avoid spurious reflections of the wavefunction from the finite border of numerical simulations. The proposed approximate numerical scheme exploits a quantum version of a perfect matched layers for the boundary problems associated with this class of potentials. Thus, we employ the analogous of a well established electromagnetic method to deal with radiation in mesoscopic quantum systems. Numerical simulations demonstrate that the known analytic results are well recovered in the appropriated limits of quantum measurements. We also find that a relaxation time shows up in the dynamics of the quantum evolution in between two consecutive measurements.

DOI
10.1109/metroaerospace.2016.7573222

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We tackle the problem of accurate simulations of switching currents arising from tunnel events in the washboard potentials associated to Josephson junctions. The measurements of the probability distribution of the switching currents is essential to determine the quantum character of the device, and therefore is at the core of technological applications, as Josephson junctions, that have been proposed for quantum computers. In particular, we show how to accurately calibrate the parameters of the boundary conditions to avoid spurious reflections of the wavefunction from the finite border of numerical simulations. The proposed approximate numerical scheme exploits a quantum version of a perfect matched layers for the boundary problems associated with this class of potentials. Thus, we employ the analogous of a well established electromagnetic method to deal with radiation in mesoscopic quantum systems. Numerical simulations demonstrate that the known analytic results are well recovered in the appropriated limits of quantum measurements. We also find that a relaxation time shows up in the dynamics of the quantum evolution in between two consecutive measurements.
Josephson junction is one of the promising devices to be used as a quantum bit or known as qubit in a quantum computer. The dynamics of current-bias Josephson junction can be described by using the Resistively and Capacitively Shunted Junction (RCSJ) model which is analogous to the classical motion of a particle in a tilted washboard potential. In this work, quantum theory and approximation methods are used to calculate and explain quantum properties of the Josepson junction. We found that the energy levels in the washboard potential can be quantum mechanically quantized, and thus used as a qubit in quantum computation. The tunneling rate from the n[superscript th] energy level exponentially increases with bias current and the first excited state is three orders of magnitude more than the ground state. The wave function of the state in the potential well is relatively similar to the harmonic oscillator wave function because of the shape of the washboard potential. The transition rate between the energy levels due to an electromagnetic radiation depends on the amplitude and the frequency of microwave current. The period of the oscillation is in the order of nanoseconds. Finally the decoherence time in Josephson junction can be observed by considering the Rabi's oscillation in the presence of current noise. The decoherence time depends on the magnitude of the current noise. This result can be used to determine the feasibility of using Josephson Junction as a qubit
This thesis examines Josephson tunnel junctions as candidate qubits for quantum computation. A large area current-biased junction, known as a phase qubit, uses the two lowest energy levels in a tilted washboard potential as the qubit states |0> and |1>. I performed experiments with 10 x 10 um^2 Nb/AlOx/Nb qubit junctions, with critical currents of roughly 30 uA. The state of a device was initialized by cooling below 50 mK in a dilution refrigerator. In order for quantum mechanical superpositions to be long-lived, it is necessary to isolate the junction from noisy bias leads that originate at room temperature. I studied two types of isolation: an LC filter, and a broadband scheme that used an auxiliary junction, resulting in a dc SQUID. One of the main goals of this work was to determine how well a simple Hamiltonian, derived assuming just a few lumped elements, describes the observed behavior of a macroscopic Josephson device, including coherent dynamics such as Rabi oscillations. I did this by comparing results to the expected behavior of ideal two-level systems and with more detailed master equation and density matrix simulations. I performed state manipulation by applying dc bias currents and resonant microwave currents, and through temperature control. The tunneling escape rate of the junction from the states |0> and |1> (zero voltage) to the running state (finite voltage) depends on the occupation probability of the energy levels and served as state readout. Experiments to measure the relaxation time T1 between |1> and |0> were performed by examining the dependence of the escape rate with temperature, yielding a maximum T1 = 15 ns. Measuring the decay to the ground state after applying a microwave pulse revealed at least two time constants, one of about 10 ns and another as long as 50 ns. The spectroscopic coherence time T2* was estimated to be roughly 5 ns by measuring resonance widths and the decay envelope of coherent Rabi oscillations was found to have a time constant T' = 10 ns over a wide range of conditions.
The quantum character of Josephson junctions is ordinarily revealed through the analysis of the switching currents, i.e., the current at which a finite voltage appears: A sharp rise of the voltage signals the passage (tunnel) from a trapped state (the zero voltage solution) to a running state (the finite voltage solution). In this context, we investigate the probability distribution of the Josephson-junction switching current taking into account the effect of the bias sweeping rate and introducing a simple nonideal quantum measurement scheme. The measurements are modeled as repeated voltage samplings at discrete time intervals, that is, with repeated projections of the time-dependent quantum solutions on the static or the running states, to retrieve the probability distribution of the switching currents. The distribution appears to be immune to the quantum Zeno effect, and it is close to, but distinguishable from, the Wentzel-Kramers-Brillouin approximation. For energy barriers comparable to the quantum fundamental energy state and in the fast bias current ramp rate the difference is neat, and remains sizable in the asymptotic slow rate limit. This behavior is a consequence of the quantum character of the system that confirms the presence of a backreaction of quantum measurements on the outcome of mesoscopic Josephson junctions.
We investigate the dynamics of the phase variable of an ideal underdamped Josephson junction in switching current experiments. These experiments have provided the first evidence for macroscopic quantum tunneling in large Josephson junctions and are currently used for state readout of superconducting qubits. We calculate the shape of the resulting macroscopic wave packet and predict that the propagation of the wave packet long enough after a switching event leads to an average voltage increasing linearly with time.
We propose to use a time-dependent imaginary potential to describe quantum mechanical tunneling through time-varying potential barriers. We use Gamow solutions for stationary tunneling problems to justify our choice of potential, and we apply our method to describe tunneling of a mesoscopic quantum variable: the phase change across a Josephson junction. The Josephson junction phase variable behaves as the position coordinate of a particle moving in a tilted washboard potential, and our general solution to the motion in such a potential with a time-dependent tilt reproduces a number of features associated with voltage switching in Josephson junctions. Apart from applications as artificial atoms in quantum information studies, the Josephson junction may serve as an electric field sensitive detector, and our studies provide a detailed understanding of how the voltage switching dynamics couples to the electric field amplitude.
We theoretically study the phase dynamics in Josephson junctions, which maps onto the oscillatory motion of a pointlike particle in the washboard potential. Under appropriate driving and damping conditions, the Josephson phase undergoes intriguing bistable dynamics near a saddle point in the quasienergy landscape. The bifurcation mechanism plays a critical role in superconducting quantum circuits with relevance to nondemolition measurements such as high-fidelity readout of qubit states. We address the question "what is the probability of capture into either basin of attraction?" and answer it concerning both classical and quantum dynamics. Consequently, we derive the Arnold probability and numerically analyze its implementation of the controlled dynamical switching between two steady states under the various nonequilibrium conditions.