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arXiv:1711.11569 · Physical Review X

Single-Shot Quantum Nondemolition Detection of Individual Itinerant Microwave Photons

Jean-Claude Besse, Simone Gasparinetti, Michele C. Collodo, T. Walter, Philipp Kurpiers, Marek Pechal, Christopher Eichler, Andreas J. Wallraff

Published Apr 3, 2018• 113 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Single-photon detection is an essential component in many experiments in quantum optics, but it remains challenging in the microwave domain.We realize a quantum nondemolition detector for propagating microwave photons and characterize its performance using a single-photon source.To this aim, we implement a cavity-assisted conditional phase gate between the incoming photon and a superconducting artificial atom.By reading out the state of this atom in a single shot, we reach an external (internal) photon-detection fidelity of 50% (71%), limited by transmission efficiency between the source and the detector (75%) and the coherence properties of the qubit.By characterizing the coherence and average number of photons in the field reflected off the detector, we demonstrate its quantum nondemolition nature.We envisage applications in generating heralded remote entanglement between qubits and for realizing logic gates between propagating microwave photons.

DOI
10.1103/physrevx.8.021003

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Single-photon detection is an essential component in many experiments in quantum optics, but it remains challenging in the microwave domain.We realize a quantum nondemolition detector for propagating microwave photons and characterize its performance using a single-photon source.To this aim, we implement a cavity-assisted conditional phase gate between the incoming photon and a superconducting artificial atom.By reading out the state of this atom in a single shot, we reach an external (internal) photon-detection fidelity of 50% (71%), limited by transmission efficiency between the source and the detector (75%) and the coherence properties of the qubit.By characterizing the coherence and average number of photons in the field reflected off the detector, we demonstrate its quantum nondemolition nature.We envisage applications in generating heralded remote entanglement between qubits and for realizing logic gates between propagating microwave photons.
Single-photon detection is an essential component in many experiments in quantum optics, but it remains challenging in the microwave domain. We realize a quantum nondemolition detector for propagating microwave photons and characterize its performance using a single-photon source. To this aim, we implement a cavity-assisted conditional phase gate between the incoming photon and a superconducting artificial atom. By reading out the state of this atom in a single shot, we reach an external (internal) photon-detection fidelity of 50% (71%), limited by transmission efficiency between the source and the detector (75%) and the coherence properties of the qubit. By characterizing the coherence and average number of photons in the field reflected off the detector, we demonstrate its quantum nondemolition nature. We envisage applications in generating heralded remote entanglement between qubits and for realizing logic gates between propagating microwave photons.
The realization of a high-efficiency microwave single photon detector is a long-standing problem in the field of microwave quantum optics. Here, we propose a quantum nondemolition, high-efficiency photon detector that can readily be implemented in present state-of-the-art circuit quantum electrodynamics. This scheme works in a continuous fashion, gaining information about the photon arrival time as well as about its presence. The key insight that allows us to circumvent the usual limitations imposed by measurement backaction is the use of long-lived dark states in a small ensemble of inhomogeneous artificial atoms to increase the interaction time between the photon and the measurement device. Using realistic system parameters, we show that large detection fidelities are possible.
Superconducting quantum bits (qubits) are a leading candidate towards realizing a processor that is able to outperform existing classical computers at select tasks. One particular qubit architecture, the transmon, boasts long coherence times compared to required gate lengths and flexibility with respect to circuit couplings as these 'artificial atoms' are photolithographically defined. These attributes allow qubits to be leveraged for other tasks as well — such as efficiently detecting itinerant microwave photons. Such a device may prove useful for remote entanglement protocols, quantum optics experiments in the microwave regime, and as a detector for low-mass dark matter.Through a blend of circuit quantum electrodynamics (cQED) and waveguide quantum electrodynamics (wQED) theories, high detector performance was achieved even when the photon arrival time was not known. Utilizing an ensemble (N = 4) of identical transmon absorbers, photon mediated interactions along a common waveguide enable absorbed itinerant photons to be trapped for longer than the inverse of the bandwidth of an individual qubit. This extended trapping time allows for sufficient integration of the dispersively shifted readout resonator to resolve deviations from vacuum with high fidelity.
Single photon detection is a requisite technique in quantum-optics experiments in both the optical and the microwave domains. However, the energy of microwave quanta are four to five orders of magnitude less than their optical counterpart, making the efficient detection of single microwave photon extremely challenging. Here, we demonstrate the detection of a single microwave photon propagating through a waveguide. The detector is implemented with an "impedance-matched" artificial Λ system comprising the dressed states of a driven superconducting qubit coupled to a microwave resonator. We attain a single-photon detection efficiency of 0.66±0.06 with a reset time of ~400 ns. This detector can be exploited for various applications in quantum sensing, quantum communication and quantum information processing.
The ability to nondestructively detect the presence of a single, traveling photon has been a long-standing goal in optics, with applications in quantum information and measurement. Realizing such a detector is complicated by the fact that photon-photon interactions are typically very weak. At microwave frequencies, very strong effective photon-photon interactions in a waveguide have recently been demonstrated. Here we show how this type of interaction can be used to realize a quantum nondemolition measurement of a single propagating microwave photon. The scheme we propose uses a chain of solid-state three-level systems (transmons) cascaded through circulators which suppress photon backscattering. Our theoretical analysis shows that microwave-photon detection with fidelity around 90% can be realized with existing technologies.
Using modern micro and nano-fabrication techniques combined with superconducting materials we realize quantum electronic circuits in which we create, store, and manipulate individual microwave photons. The strong interaction of photons with superconducting quantum two-level systems allows us to probe fundamental quantum effects of microwave radiation and also to develop components for applications in quantum technology. Previously we have realized on-demand single photon sources which we have characterized using correlation function measurements [1] and full quantum state tomography [2]. For this purpose we have developed efficient methods to separate the quantum signals of interest from the noise added by the linear amplifiers used for quadrature amplitude detection [3]. We now regularly employ superconducting parametric amplifiers [4] to perform nearly quantum limited detection of propagating electromagnetic fields. These enable us to probe the entanglement which we generate on demand between stationary qubits and microwave photons freely propagating down a transmission line [5]. Using two independent microwave single photon sources, we have recently performed Hong-Ou-Mandel experiments at microwave frequencies [6] and have probed the coherence of two-mode multi-photon states at the out-put of a beam-splitter. The non-local nature of such states may prove to be useful for distributing entanglement in future small-scale quantum networks.