Quantum state transfer by propagating wave packets of electromagnetic radiation requires tunable couplings between the sending and receiving quantum systems and the propagation channel or waveguide. The highest fidelity of state transfer in experimental demonstrations so far has been in superconducting circuits. Here, the tunability always comes together with nonlinear interactions, arising from the same Josephson junctions that enable the tunability. The resulting nonlinear dynamics correlates the photon number and spatiotemporal degrees of freedom and leads to a multimode output state, for any multiphoton state. In this work, we study as a generic example the release of complex quantum states from a superconducting resonator, employing a flux tunable coupler to engineer and control the release process. We quantify the multimode character of the output state and discuss how to optimize the fidelity of a quantum state transfer process with this in mind.
Quantum state transfer by propagating wave packets of electromagnetic radiation requires tunable couplings between the sending and receiving quantum systems and the propagation channel or waveguide. The highest fidelity of state transfer in experimental demonstrations so far has been in superconducting circuits. Here, the tunability always comes together with nonlinear interactions, arising from the same Josephson junctions that enable the tunability. The resulting nonlinear dynamics correlates the photon number and spatiotemporal degrees of freedom and leads to a multimode output state, for any multiphoton state. In this work, we study as a generic example the release of complex quantum states from a superconducting resonator, employing a flux tunable coupler to engineer and control the release process. We quantify the multimode character of the output state and discuss how to optimize the fidelity of a quantum state transfer process with this in mind.
Quantum state transfer between distant nodes is essential for distributed quantum information processing. Existing protocols are typically optimized for specific coupling regimes, such as adiabatic dark-state transfer in the single-mode limit and pitch-and-catch schemes in the multimode regime, leaving the crossover between them without a simple and unified control strategy. Here we identify a minimal two-parameter control framework that enables high-fidelity quantum state transfer across this single-mode-to-multimode crossover in a multimode quantum channel. Using a pulse-shaped pitch-and-catch protocol controlled only by the pulse ramp rate and the emission-absorption delay, we achieve transfer fidelities exceeding 99.9%, extending pitch-and-catch protocols toward the single-mode limit without requiring dark-state protection or complex pulse design. We further demonstrate robustness against dissipation, disorder, detuning, and imperfect initialization under experimentally realistic conditions. These results provide a simple and broadly applicable framework for state transfer in multimode quantum channels, with relevance to circuit-QED and hybrid quantum-acoustic systems.
In hybrid quantum systems, a controllable coupling can be obtained by mediating the interactions with dynamically introduced photons. We propose a hybrid quantum architecture consisting of two nitrogen vacancy center ensembles coupled to a tunable flux qubit, which is contained on the transmission line of a multimode nonlinear superconducting coplanar waveguide resonator with an appended Josephson mixing device. We discuss the use of entangled propagating microwaves photons, which through our nonlinear wave-mixing procedure are made into macroscopically distinct quantum states. We use these states to steer the system and show that, with further amplification, we can create a similar photonic state, which has a more distinct reduction of its uncertainty. Furthermore, we show that all of this leads to a lengthened coherence time, a reasonable fidelity that decays to 0.94 and then later increases upward to stabilize at 0.6, as well as a strengthened entanglement.
In quantum computation and quantum information processing, the manipulation and engineering of quantum systems to suit certain purposes are an ongoing task. One such example is quantum state transfer (QST), an essential requirement for both quantum communication and large-scale quantum computation. Here we engineer a chain of four superconducting qubits with tunable couplers to realize the perfect state transfer (PST) protocol originally proposed in quantum spin networks and successfully demonstrate the efficient transfer of an arbitrary single-qubit state from one end of the chain to the other, achieving a high fidelity of 0.986 in just 25 ns. This demonstrated QST is readily to extend to larger chain and multi-node configurations, thus serving as a desirable tool for scalable quantum information processing.
Tunable couplings are a central requirement for scalable quantum processing with superconducting quantum circuits. Practical quantum processors must dynamically reconfigure their interaction landscape to accommodate different quantum operations, including idle, single-qubit gates, two-qubit gates, readout, and reset, while maintaining high coherence and suppressing spurious couplings. While widely used tunable interaction approaches rely on single-mode mediation, they are often constrained by nearest-neighbor connectivity, limited on-off ratios, and stringent requirements on qubit frequency allocation. This thesis develops and studies novel strategies for tailoring tunable interactions by moving beyond single-mode mediation, spanning multimode engineered interactions and modeless interaction schemes ("many to no modes"), while accounting for realistic constraints in superconducting hardware. Using a microwave metamaterial waveguide realized by coupled resonator arrays, I demonstrate tunable dissipative interactions that allow on-demand, fast, and high switching-ratio photon emission from a transmon used as a multi-level quantum emitter. This capability is leveraged to achieve deterministic generation of multidimensional photonic cluster states, as well as unconditional reset and leakage reduction of frequency-tunable superconducting qubits. Complementary to these multimode dissipative tunable interactions, this thesis also introduces architectures that realize tunable interactions mediated by many coherent modes or by no mediating modes. I discuss a long-range interaction scheme between superconducting dual-rail qubits mediated by spatially extended eigenmodes of a coupled-resonator array bus. Finally, I propose and analyze a novel modeless coupling architecture based on a SQUID coupler which provides intrinsic cross-Kerr interactions, enabling fast, hybridization-free CZ gates for far-detuned pairs, and discuss its implications for miniaturization of superconducting quantum processors.
In this work we show that a tunable coupling between microwave resonators can be engineered by means of simple Josephson junctions circuits, such as dc and rf superconducting quantum interference devices. We show that by controlling the time dependence of the coupling it is possible to switch on and off and modulate the cross-talk and boost the interaction towards the ultrastrong regime, as well as to engineer red and blue sideband couplings, nonlinear photon hopping, and classical gauge fields. We discuss how these dynamically tunable superconducting circuits enable key applications in the fields of all-optical quantum computing, continuous-variable quantum information, and quantum simulation---all within the reach of the state of the art in circuit-QED experiments.
In the pursuit of scalable superconducting quantum computing, tunable couplers have emerged as a pivotal component, offering the flexibility required for complex quantum operations of high performance. In most current architectures of superconducting quantum chips, such couplers are not equipped with dedicated readout circuits to reduce complexity in both design and operation. However, this strategy poses challenges in precise characterization, calibration, and control of the couplers. In this work, we develop a hardware-efficient and robust technique based on adiabatic control to address this issue. The critical ingredient of this technique is adiabatic swap operation between a tunable coupler and nearby qubits. Using this technique, we have characterized and calibrated tunable couplers in our chips and achieved straightforward and precise control over these couplers. For example, we have demonstrated the calibration and correction of the flux distortion of couplers. In addition, we have also expanded this technique to tune the dispersive shift between a frequency-fixed qubit and its readout resonator over a wide range.