In this work, we design an advanced quantum readout architecture that integrates a four qubit superconducting chip with a novel parametric amplifier ended with analog front-end circuit. Unlike conventional approaches, this design eliminates the need for components such as Purcell filters. Instead, a Josephson Parametric Amplifier is engineered to simultaneously perform quantum-limited signal amplification and suppress qubit energy leakage. The design features a tailored gain profile across C-band, with sharp peaks (24 dB) and troughs (0 dB), enabling qubit frequencies to align with gain minima and resonator frequencies with gain maxima.
In this work, we design an advanced quantum readout architecture that integrates a four qubit superconducting chip with a novel parametric amplifier ended with analog front-end circuit. Unlike conventional approaches, this design eliminates the need for components such as Purcell filters. Instead, a Josephson Parametric Amplifier is engineered to simultaneously perform quantum-limited signal amplification and suppress qubit energy leakage. The design features a tailored gain profile across C-band, with sharp peaks (24 dB) and troughs (0 dB), enabling qubit frequencies to align with gain minima and resonator frequencies with gain maxima.
This study presents a comprehensive design approach focusing on quantum chip signal amplification by Josephson parametric amplifiers, and an integrated receiver for detecting ultra-low-level quantum signals. Quantum theory is used to analyze the dynamics of a transmon qubit coupled to a transmission line, entanglement between them, and design a parametric amplifier to amplify the quantum signals. Integration of these quantum devices with a 45 nm CMOS system-on-chip receiver creates a sophisticated blend of quantum and classical elements. The transmon qubit and parametric amplifier as a quantum chip, operating at 10 mK, are evaluated for key quantum metrics such as entanglement, Stoke projector probabilities, and parametric amplifier gain. Simultaneously, the resulting receiver combines high-performance components, including a low-noise amplifier with 0.76 dB noise figure in a broad bandwidth, a sweepable 5.0 GHz sinusoidal wave generator, and a purpose-designed mixer for C-band to zero-intermediate frequency (IF) conversion. An intermediate frequency amplifier with flat 26 dB gain and its low-pass filter property generates a pure sinusoidal wave at zero-IF, suitable for subsequent processing at room temperature. This design achieves a notable balance with low power consumption (∼122 mW), a noise figure less than 0.9 dB, high gain (∼65 dB), a wide bandwidth of 3.6 GHz, and compact dimensions (0.6 × 0.4 mm2). The fully integrated receiver, capable of reading out at least 90 qubits, positions this design for potential applications in quantum computing. Post-simulation validations at room temperature underscore the promising and innovative nature of this approach.
Coherent circuits based on superconducting elements hold tremendous promise for the practical implementation of quantum information technology: advanced computation, cryptography, and hardware simulation of complex materials systems are envisioned applications. Such circuits are essentially engineered atoms with level transitions in the 4-8 GHz regime; as such “read” and “write” operations are performed with the aid of fast microwave pulses and low-noise amplifiers, respectively. Recent advances in cavity-based superconducting parametric amplifiers have enabled real-time measurement and feedback in one and two qubits. We demonstrate a novel Josephson junction transmission-line based traveling-wave amplifier which employs sub-wavelength phase matching resonators to achieve high gain, several GHz of bandwidth, and near quantum-noise limited performance. Such devices will enable multiplexed qubit readout in integrated architectures comprised of a variety of microwave frequency analog and digital superconducting technologies: signal sources, multiplexers, ADCs, DACs, mixers, and amplifiers.
In the realm of quantum computing and low-temperature detectors, precise signal conditioning is crucial for the effective readout and control of superconducting qubits and sensors. As these technologies evolve, the need for increasingly sophisticated and integrated systems becomes more apparent. This contribution presents the design of a mixer-less analog front-end board optimized for superconducting circuit interfacing. It leverages the capabilities of the Radio-Frequency System-on-Chip (RFSoC) from AMD Xilinx and utilizes software-selectable channel filtering stages, ultimately achieving wide-band signals without analog local oscillator leakage.
Broadband quantum-limited amplifiers play a critical role in the single-shot readout of superconducting qubits, but a popular implementation, the traveling wave parametric amplifier, involves a complex design and fabrication process. Here, we present a simple design for a Josephson parametric amplifier, using a lumped element resonator comprising a superconducting quantum interference device whose useful bandwidth is enhanced with an on-chip impedance-matching circuit. We demonstrate a flux-coupling geometry that maximizes the coupling to the Josephson loop and minimizes spurious excitation of the amplifier resonant circuit. The amplifier, which operates in a flux-pumped mode, is demonstrated with a power gain of more than 20 dB over a bandwidth of about 300 MHz, where approximate noise measurements indicate quantum-limited performance. A procedure is given for optimizing the bandwidth for this kind of amplifier, using a linearized circuit simulation while minimizing non-linearities.
High-fidelity qubit measurement is a critical element of all quantum computing architectures. In superconducting systems, qubits are typically measured by probing a readout resonator with a weak microwave tone that must be amplified before reaching the room temperature electronics. Superconducting parametric amplifiers have been widely adopted as the first amplifier in the chain, primarily because of their low noise performance, approaching the quantum limit. However, they require isolators and circulators to route signals up the measurement chain and to protect qubits from amplified noise. While these commercial components are wideband and simple to use, their intrinsic loss, size, and magnetic shielding requirements impact overall measurement efficiency and scalability. Here we report a parametric amplifier that achieves both broadband forward amplification and backward isolation in a single, compact, non-magnetic circuit that could be integrated on chip with superconducting qubits. The approach relies on a nonlinear transmission line that supports traveling-wave parametric amplification of forward propagating signals, and isolation via frequency conversion of backward propagating signals. This traveling-wave parametric amplifier and converter has the potential to reduce the readout hardware overhead when scaling up the size of superconducting quantum computers.
Bringing signals from quantum to classical, from few-photon to many-photon levels for further processing, is a common challenge in rising quantum technologies. These include quantum computing, quantum communication, quantum sensing, radio astronomy, and dark matter searches, typically operating at microwave frequencies and millikelvin temperatures. Superconducting parametric amplifiers, as the first piece in the readout chain, have become a cornerstone of these technologies, since they offer unrivaled noise performance near the quantum-mechanical limit and high gain to surpass the noise of subsequent amplifiers. A notable implementation is the Josephson traveling-wave parametric amplifier (TWPA), which stands out due to its bandwidth of several Gigahertz and high saturation power, often larger than -100 dBm. These key properties come at the cost of complexity in design and fabrication: TWPA metamaterials often contain several thousands of Josephson junctions. Designing high-gain TWPAs involves three major challenges: ensuring impedance-matching, phase-matching of parametric amplification, and suppressing unwanted processes, all achievable through sub-wavelength dispersion engineering. This thesis covers the circuit design and analysis, implementation, and experimental characterization of a dispersion-engineered TWPA based on radio-frequency superconducting interference devices (rf-SQUIDs). It focuses on a detailed investigation of dispersion-engineering techniques and their effects on amplifier performance, particularly through the use of time-domain circuit simulations to analyze the multimode dynamics of the circuit. The experimentally realized device features 18 dB of gain, an instantaneous bandwidth spanning from 2.2 to 6.7 GHz, a system noise of 2.5 quanta, and a saturation power of (−86.5 ± 4.0) dBm. With these characteristics, it is suitable for frequency-multiplexed readout of detector arrays or qubits. Its high saturation power, about 10 dB higher than other reported Josephson-junction-based TWPAs, allows increasing the number of qubits per readout line, or decreasing the intermodulation between frequency-multiplexed qubits, both crucial for scaling up quantum computation.