arXiv:2312.14065 · Physical Review Letters

Efficient Microwave Photon-to-Electron Conversion in a High-Impedance Quantum Circuit

Ognjen Stanisavljević, Jean-Côme Philippe, Julien Gabelli, M. Aprili, Jérôme Estève, J. Basset

Published Aug 16, 2024• 15 citations

Abstract

We demonstrate a single-photon detector operating in the microwave domain, based on photoassisted quasiparticle tunneling events that poison a superconducting island. The detection relies on continuously monitoring the island's charge parity using microwave reflectometry. This scheme achieves 10% detection efficiency with sub 50 ns time resolution and short dead time (∼1 μs), for microwave photons at 10 GHz. The detector features three junctions connected to a superconducting island, which together carry out photoelectric conversion and charge readout. The enhanced light-matter coupling, crucial to photon-to-quasiparticle conversion, is provided by a granular aluminum-based high-impedance microwave resonator. The time-resolved detection of itinerant microwave photon opens up new perspectives in quantum sensing, microwave quantum optics, and mesoscopic physics.

DOI: 10.1103/physrevlett.133.076302

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arXiv:2312.14065 · Physical Review Letters

Efficient Microwave Photon-to-Electron Conversion in a High-Impedance Quantum Circuit

Ognjen Stanisavljević, Jean-Côme Philippe, Julien Gabelli, M. Aprili, Jérôme Estève, J. Basset

Published Aug 16, 2024• 15 citations

arXiv HTML PDF

Abstract

DOI: 10.1103/physrevlett.133.076302

Related papers

Fast and Continuous Detection of Single Microwave Photons via Photo-assisted Quasiparticle Tunneling to a Superconducting Island

J. Basset, Ognjen Stanisavljević, Julien Gabelli +2 more

We demonstrate a single-photon detector operating in the microwave domain, based on photo-assisted quasiparticle tunneling events that poison a superconducting island. The detection relies on continuously monitoring the island's charge parity using microwave reflectometry. This scheme achieves 10\% detection efficiency with sub \SI{50}{\ns} time resolution and short dead time ($\sim \SI{1}{\us}$), for microwave photons at \SI{10}{\GHz}. The detector features three junctions connected to a superconducting island, which together carry out photoelectric conversion and charge readout. The enhanced light--matter coupling, crucial to photon to quasiparticle conversion, is provided by a granular aluminum-based high-impedance microwave resonator. The time resolved detection of itinerant microwave photon opens up new perspectives in quantum sensing, microwave quantum optics and mesoscopic physics.We demonstrate a single-photon detector operating in the microwave domain, based on photo-assisted quasiparticle tunneling events that poison a superconducting island. The detection relies on continuously monitoring the island's charge parity using microwave reflectometry. This scheme achieves 10\% detection efficiency with sub \SI{50}{\ns} time resolution and short dead time ($\sim \SI{1}{\us}$), for microwave photons at \SI{10}{\GHz}. The detector features three junctions connected to a superconducting island, which together carry out photoelectric conversion and charge readout. The enhanced light--matter coupling, crucial to photon to quasiparticle conversion, is provided by a granular aluminum-based high-impedance microwave resonator. The time resolved detection of itinerant microwave photon opens up new perspectives in quantum sensing, microwave quantum optics and mesoscopic physics.

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0.73

, and a continuous detection efficiency of

0.47

over a

5\,\mathrm{MHz}

instantaneous bandwidth, with a

1\,μ\mathrm{s}

temporal resolution and a

15\,μ\mathrm{s}

dead time. By overcoming the trade-off between efficiency and duty cycle, this approach establishes continuous microwave photon detection for quantum sensing, quantum thermodynamics, and fundamental physics.