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arXiv:2302.07556 · IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity

Stepping Closer to Pulsed Single Microwave Photon Detectors for Axions Search

Alessandro D’Elia, A. Rettaroli, S. Tocci, D. Babusci, C. Barone, M. Beretta, B. Buonomo, F. Chiarello, Nassim Chikhi, Daniele Di Gioacchino, Giulietto Felici, Giovanni Filatrella, M. V. Fistul, L. Foggetta, Claudio D. Gatti, Evgeni V. Il’ichev, Carlo Ligi, Mikhail Lisitskiy, Giovanni Maccarrone, F. Mattioli, G. Oelsner, S. Pagano, L. Piersanti, B. Ruggiero, G. Torrioli, Alexandre M. Zagoskin

Published Nov 4, 2022• 16 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Axions detection requires the ultimate sensitivity down to the single-photon limit. In the microwave region, this corresponds to energies in the yJ range. This extreme sensitivity has to be combined with an extremely low dark-count rate since the probability of axions conversion into microwave photons is supposed to be very low. To face this complicated task, we followed two promising approaches that both rely on the use of superconducting devices based on the Josephson effect. The first one is to use a single Josephson junction (JJ) as a switching detector (i.e., exploiting the superconducting to normal state transition in the presence of microwave photons). We designed a device composed of a coplanar waveguide terminated on a current-biased JJ. We tested its efficiency to pulsed (pulse duration 10 ns) microwave signals since this configuration is closer to an actual axions search experiment. We show how our device is able to reach detection capability of the order of ten photons with the frequency of 8 GHz. The second approach is based on an intrinsically quantum device formed by two resonators coupled only via a superconducting qubit network. This approach relies on quantum nondemolition measurements of the resonator photons. We show that by injecting radiofrequency power into the resonator, the frequency position of the resonant drop in the transmission coefficient (S21) can be modulated up to 4 MHz. We anticipate that, once optimized, both the devices have the potential to reach single-photon sensitivity.

DOI
10.1109/tasc.2022.3218072

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Axions detection requires the ultimate sensitivity down to the single-photon limit. In the microwave region, this corresponds to energies in the yJ range. This extreme sensitivity has to be combined with an extremely low dark-count rate since the probability of axions conversion into microwave photons is supposed to be very low. To face this complicated task, we followed two promising approaches that both rely on the use of superconducting devices based on the Josephson effect. The first one is to use a single Josephson junction (JJ) as a switching detector (i.e., exploiting the superconducting to normal state transition in the presence of microwave photons). We designed a device composed of a coplanar waveguide terminated on a current-biased JJ. We tested its efficiency to pulsed (pulse duration 10 ns) microwave signals since this configuration is closer to an actual axions search experiment. We show how our device is able to reach detection capability of the order of ten photons with the frequency of 8 GHz. The second approach is based on an intrinsically quantum device formed by two resonators coupled only via a superconducting qubit network. This approach relies on quantum nondemolition measurements of the resonator photons. We show that by injecting radiofrequency power into the resonator, the frequency position of the resonant drop in the transmission coefficient (S21) can be modulated up to 4 MHz. We anticipate that, once optimized, both the devices have the potential to reach single-photon sensitivity.
Abstract The major task of detecting axions or axion-like particles has two challenges. On the one hand, the ultimate sensitivity is required, down to the energy of a single microwave photon of the yoctojoule range. On the other hand, since the detected events are supposed to be rare, the dark count rate of the detector must be extremely low. We show that this trade-off can be approached due to the peculiar switching dynamics of an underdamped Josephson junction in the phase diffusion regime. The detection of a few photons’ energy at 10 GHz with dark count time above 10 s and the efficiency close to unity was demonstrated. Further enhancements require a detailed investigation of the junction switching dynamics.
A growing interest in the detection of single microwave-photons has been stimulated by the search for light dark matter, such as Axions and Axion-like particles, together with the fast development of quantum technologies based on superconducting devices. Many solutions have been proposed in literature but most of them still fail to satisfy the tight requirements imposed by Dark Matter experiments. For instance, many have a large dark-count rate that still make parametric amplifiers a preferable choice. On the contrary, a device based on a current biased Josephson junction resonantly activated by the absorption of a microwave photon may have dark-counts rate down to the mHz level. Here, we report the experimental study of the resonant activation of an Al Josephson junction excited by continuous radiofrequency. The device under study consists of a chip with a transmission line terminated by an Al Josephson-junction, fabricated by shadow-mask evaporation technique. The sample-holder with the chip inside is hosted in a superconducting box and it is thermally anchored to the mixing-chamber plate of a dilution refrigerator at a temperature of about 15 mK. We measured the escape rates of the junction in different configurations of current bias and radiofrequency excitations. Response to continuous wave has been measured and interpreted within the RCSJ model. These results are used to optimize the design of a single microwave-photon detector.
Axions and axion-like particles appear in well-motivated extensions of the standard model of particle physics and may be the solution to the long-standing puzzle of the dark matter in our Universe. Several new experiments are foreseen in the next decade searching them in a wide range of the parameter space. In the mass region from few to several tens of microelectronvolt, detector sensitivity will be limited by the standard quantum limit of linear amplifiers and a new class of single microwave-photon detector will be needed. We have developed a single photon counter based on the voltage switching of an underdamped Josephson junction that is coupled to a coplanar waveguide. By measuring the switching voltage, we can register single photons at 14 GHz with the rate less than 1 photon per 3000 s.
Experimental search of galactic axions requires detection of single photons in the microwave range. We work on a novel approach to detect single microwave photons based on a coherent collective response of quantum states occurring in a superconducting qubit network (SQN) embedded in a lowdissipative superconducting resonator. We propose a two resonators detector configuration with two parallel resonators without common part and with separated input and output terminals. The device consists of a low-dissipative resonator with embedded SQN in which microwave photons arrive (“signal resonator”), and a transmission line for measuring the frequency dependent transmission coefficient demonstrating resonant drops at the qubit frequencies (“readout resonator”). In comparison with T-type three terminal device recently proposed and investigated by us, the device with two resonators with separated input and output terminals doesn't contain common part of both resonators and exclude an unwanted noise from measurement readout circuits to the signal resonator. A layout of two resonators four terminal SQN detectors containing 5 flux qubits weakly coupled to a low-dissipative signal and readout resonator was developed and optimized. The samples were fabricated by Manhattan Al-based technology with Nb resonator circuits. The SQN detector was experimentally tested in terms of microwave measurements of scattering parameters of both resonators, and crosstalk properties. Comparison of experimental data with results of the simulations permits one to conclude that the electromagnetic conditions of the fundamental resonant peak of 8.5 GHz of both resonators aren't affected by the crosstalk phenomenon and their performances provided by the design remain not altered for correct device operation
Abstract Josephson junctions, in appropriate configurations, can be excellent candidates for detection of single photons in the microwave frequency band. Such possibility has been recently addressed in the framework of galactic axion detection. Here are reported recent developments in the modelling and simulation of dynamic behaviour of a Josephson junction single microwave photon detector. For a Josephson junction to be enough sensitive, small critical currents and operating temperatures of the order of ten of mK are necessary. Thermal and quantum tunnelling out of the zero-voltage state can also mask the detection process. Axion detection would require dark count rates in the order of 0.001 Hz. It is, therefore, is of paramount importance to identify proper device fabrication parameters and junction operation point.
The detection of single microwave photons is becoming a cornerstone of fundamental experiments in circuit quantum electrodynamics and quantum sensing. Experiments in cavity quantum electrodynamics, photon-mediated entanglement, dark-matter axion searches and quantum thermodynamics increasingly rely on single-photon sensitivity. Current technologies exploit superconducting devices, including Josephson parametric detectors, and transmon-based non-demolition counters for dark-matter haloscopes. Hybrid double quantum dot-Josephson systems reach interesting levels of efficiency, while current-biased Josephson junctions show potential for near-quantumlimited resolution. Despite impressive progress, challenges remain in reducing dark counts, improving reset speed, and scaling for multiplexed arrays. Continued advances in superconducting materials, qubit coherence, and hybrid semiconductor-superconductor designs promise to extend detection efficiency and bandwidth. These developments are poised to enable the next generation of quantum-enabled experiments, from foundational tests in quantum optics to searches for new physics.