A flux qubit readout scheme involving a dispersive technique coupled to a microstrip superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) amplifier has been tested experimentally. Thanks to the almost quantum limited noise of this amplifier at low temperature, this readout device is very promising for a design with actual qubits. Its proof of principle and low noise performance have been tested by simulating the qubit presence by applying a tiny flux change in the input SQUID. The resonant frequency of the amplifier is adjusted in situ with a varactor diode to approach the frequency of the tank circuit. Two operating modes (crossing or anticrossing regime) were identified.
A superconducting flux qubit is inductively coupled to a superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) magnetometer, capacitively shunted to form a 1.294-GHz resonator. The qubit-state-dependent resonator frequency is weakly probed with a microwave signal and detected with a microstrip SQUID amplifier. At a mean resonator occupation
n=1.5 photons, the readout visibility is increased by a factor of 4.5 over that using a cryogenic semiconductor amplifier. As
n is increased from 0.008 to 0.1, no reduction in
T1 is observed, potentially enabling continuous monitoring of the qubit state.