The number of excitations in a large quantum system (harmonic oscillator or qudit) can be measured in a quantum nondemolition manner using a dispersively coupled qubit. It typically requires a series of qubit pulses that encode various binary questions about the photon number. Recently, a method based on the fluorescence measurement of a qubit driven by a train of identical pulses was introduced to track the photon number in a cavity, hence simplifying its monitoring and raising interesting questions about the measurement backaction of this scheme. A first realization with superconducting circuits demonstrated how the average number of photons could be measured in this way. Here we present an experiment that reaches single-shot photocounting and number tracking owing to a cavity decay rate 4 orders of magnitude smaller than both the dispersive coupling rate and the qubit emission rate. An innovative notch filter and pogo-pin-based galvanic contact makes possible these seemingly incompatible features. The qubit dynamics under the pulse train is characterized. We observe quantum jumps by monitoring the photon number via the qubit fluorescence as photons leave the cavity one at a time. Additionally, we extract the measurement rate and induced dephasing rate and compare them to theoretical models. Our method could be applied to quantum error correction protocols on bosonic codes or qudits.
The number of excitations in a large quantum system (harmonic oscillator or qudit) can be measured in a quantum nondemolition manner using a dispersively coupled qubit. It typically requires a series of qubit pulses that encode various binary questions about the photon number. Recently, a method based on the fluorescence measurement of a qubit driven by a train of identical pulses was introduced to track the photon number in a cavity, hence simplifying its monitoring and raising interesting questions about the measurement backaction of this scheme. A first realization with superconducting circuits demonstrated how the average number of photons could be measured in this way. Here we present an experiment that reaches single-shot photocounting and number tracking owing to a cavity decay rate 4 orders of magnitude smaller than both the dispersive coupling rate and the qubit emission rate. An innovative notch filter and pogo-pin-based galvanic contact makes possible these seemingly incompatible features. The qubit dynamics under the pulse train is characterized. We observe quantum jumps by monitoring the photon number via the qubit fluorescence as photons leave the cavity one at a time. Additionally, we extract the measurement rate and induced dephasing rate and compare them to theoretical models. Our method could be applied to quantum error correction protocols on bosonic codes or qudits.
When a two-level system – a qubit – is used to probe a larger system, it naturally leads to answering a single yes-no question about the system state. Identifying what is the state of a system thus comes down to ask a series of binary questions iteratively to refine our knowledge. However, this approach leads to long measurement times for large systems, such as a resonator containing a large number of photons. In this thesis, we propose a new approach which enables us to make a measurement in a time, which is independent of the system size. This new measurement uses the qubit as an encoder of information about the system state into the many propagating modes of a transmission line. Assuming an ideal detector, we show that photon counting can then be implemented in a fixed time whatever the number of photons. We demonstrate the practicality of this approach by counting the number of photons in a microwave resonator coupled dispersively to a single superconducting qubit. We observe the qubit fluorescence dependence on the resonator photon number when the qubit is driven by a microwave monochromatic tone. Using the backaction of this dispersive measurement and post-selection, we evidence the photon counting ability of the measurement. The dephasing rate between two Fock states induced by the photon number measurement is measured and compared to theory. The latter allows us the study the non-linear dependence of the dephasing rate on the microwave drive amplitude.In a second time, the qubit fluorescence is probed using a frequency comb. Multiplexed heterodyne detections are simultaneously performed at each comb frequency and allow us to measure the photon number in the microwave resonator. This multiplexed measurement benefits from the recent bandwidth improvements of near quantum limited amplifiers. The limited cavity lifetime and detector efficiency prevented us from reaching single shot readout of the photon number in this proof-of-principle experiment. However, unlike in sequential measurement schemes, a single run of our experiment does provide, in parallel, partial information about the occupancy of each Fock state. Besides, we manage to observe the multiplexed measurement backaction on the resonator using direct Wigner tomography, which allowed us to measure the decoherence rate of the resonator induced by the measurement. We evidence an optimal qubit drive amplitude for information extraction, which matches the expected dynamics of a qubit under a multifrequency drive.
Circuit quantum electrodynamics (cQED), exemplified by a coupled system of a superconducting qubit and a microwave cavity, is a powerful framework for the quantum control and measurement of macroscopic quantum states in solid-state circuits. Quantum circuits based on superconducting qubits have emerged as one of the leading platforms in the pursuit of fault-tolerant quantum computing. Despite significant progress in extending qubit lifetimes, refining experimental protocols, and scaling up quantum processors, errors arising from the control and measurement of superconducting qubits continue to hinder the realization of a universal quantum computer. To investigate the error mechanisms for state-of-the-art qubits, we realize long-lived superconducting transmon qubits that exhibit fluctuating lifetimes, with an average of 0.2 ms and a maximum exceeding 0.4 ms. We then investigate their dominant error mechanism. By introducing novel time-resolved error measurements that are synchronized with the operation of the pulse tube cooler in a dilution refrigerator, we find that mechanical vibrations from the pulse tube induce nonequilibrium dynamics in highly coherent qubits, leading to their correlated bit-flip errors. Our findings not only deepen our understanding of qubit error mechanisms but also provide valuable insights into potential error-mitigation strategies for achieving fault tolerance by decoupling superconducting qubits from their mechanical environments. We also present a novel scheme for operating a cQED system in a regime where the cavity is largely displaced. We find that a qubit drive at the bare cavity frequency can effectively displace the cavity field while minimizing the cavity-drive-induced dephasing and the ac Stark shift. Furthermore, we demonstrate that standard cQED protocols, such as qubit control, readout, and cavity single-photon generation, remain compatible with largely displaced cavity fields, even beyond the critical photon number. These findings open new pathways for exploring cQED dynamics in large-photon-number regimes, including the study of nonlinear phenomena in microwave cavities, the saturation of two-level system baths for extending the coherence of microwave quantum states, and the acceleration of the dispersive readout. Finally, mechanical resonators have emerged as integral components in quantum computing for storing and transducing quantum information. Low-frequency mechanical resonators, with extremely low energy dissipation rates, are particularly interesting for extending the lifetimes of stored quantum information. However, integrating low-frequency mechanical resonators with qubits is challenging because their small energy gaps make coherent energy exchange and ground-state preparation difficult. In this thesis, we report the first steps towards the characterization of a hybrid quantum device, consisting of a Transmon qubit and a circuit optomechanical system, both coupled to a 3D microwave cavity.
We analyze the use of a driven nonlinear cavity to make a weak continuous measurement of a dispersively coupled qubit. We calculate the backaction dephasing rate and measurement rate beyond leading-order perturbation theory using a phase-space approach which accounts for cavity noise squeezing. Surprisingly, we find that increasing the coupling strength beyond the regime describable by leading-order perturbation theory (i.e., linear response) allows one to come significantly closer to the quantum limit on the measurement efficiency. We interpret this behavior in terms of the non-Gaussian photon number fluctuations of the nonlinear cavity. Our results are relevant to recent experiments using superconducting microwave circuits to study quantum measurement.
We theoretically study measurement-induced dephasing of a superconducting qubit in the circuit QED architecture and compare the results to those obtained experimentally by Schuster et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 123602 (2005)]. Strong coupling of the qubit to the resonator leads to a significant ac Stark shift of the qubit transition frequency. As a result, quantum fluctuations in the photon number populating the resonator cause dephasing of the qubit. We find good agreement between the predicted line shape of the qubit spectrum and the experimental results. Furthermore, in the strongly dispersive limit, where the Stark shift per photon is large compared to the cavity decay rate and the qubit linewidth, we predict that the qubit spectrum will be split into multiple peaks, with each peak corresponding to a different number of photons in the cavity.
The association of a quantum bit and a harmonic mode dispersively coupled is one of the most studied systems in the field of quantum electrodynamics of superconducting circuits. It offers one of the most reliable current methods for measuring the state of a quantum bit in a non-destructive manner and has enabled numerous quantum information experiments, studying the information obtained through this measurement and the dynamics of the qubit when subjected to it. It also provides the ability to prepare and manipulate the quantum state of the harmonic mode via the qubit, allowing information to be stored and processed in this mode, which is fundamental to building a quantum processor. This thesis presents two experiments based on this architecture. The first demonstrates how to use qubit fluorescence to non-destructively read the number of photons contained in a microwave cavity in a single shot, that is, before the cavity has relaxed. This makes it possible to measure photon number trajectories and observe them leave the cavity one by one. The analysis of this experiment relies on a fluorescence analysis in terms of propagating modes and addresses a number of questions about the information that these modes may contain. The second is a demonstration of the use of a neural network for quantum state preparation in the cavity. Here, the goal is to accelerate the optimization of control electromagnetic pulses at the frequencies of the cavity and qubit to create a quantum state in the cavity with high fidelity, and this for a broad class of states. To evaluate the efficiency of this new optimization protocol over this class of states, an optimal method to assess the fidelity of the prepared states using a Wigner function measurement protocol was experimentally implemented for the first time.
A measurement of the time between quantum jumps implies the capability to measure the next jump. During the time between jumps the quantum system is not evolving in a closed or unitary manner. While the wave function maintains phase coherence it evolves according to a non-Hermitian effective Hamiltonian. So under null measurement the timing of the next quantum jump can change by very many orders of magnitude when compared to rates obtained by multiplying lifetimes with occupation probabilities obtained via unitary transformation. The theory developed in 1987 for atomic fluorescence is here extended to transitions in transmon qubits. These systems differ from atoms in that they are read out with a harmonic cavity whose resonance is determined by the state of the qubit. We extend our analysis of atomic fluorescence to this infinite level system by treating the cavity as a quantum system. We find that next photon statistics is highly nonexponential and when implemented will enable faster readout, such as on timescales shorter than the decay time of the cavity. Commonly used heterodyne measurements are applied on timescales longer than the cavity lifetime. The overlap between the next photon theory and the theory of heterodyne measurement which are described according to the stochastic Schr\"odinger equation is elucidated. In the limit of large dispersion the intrinsic error for next jump detection, at short time, tends to zero. Whereas for short-time dyne detection the error remains finite for all values of dispersion.