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Science

Entangled Macroscopic Quantum States in Two Superconducting Qubits

A. J. Berkley, Haitan Xu, Roberto Ramos, M. A. Gubrud, Frederick W. Strauch, P. R. Johnson, J. R. Anderson, Alex J. Dragt, Christopher J. Lobb, F. C. Wellstood

Published Jun 6, 2003• 435 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We present spectroscopic evidence for the creation of entangled macroscopic quantum states in two current-biased Josephson-junction qubits coupled by a capacitor. The individual junction bias currents are used to control the interaction between the qubits by tuning the energy level spacings of the junctions in and out of resonance with each other. Microwave spectroscopy in the 4 to 6 gigahertzrange at 20 millikelvin reveals energy levels that agree well with theoretical results for entangled states. The single qubits are spatially separate, and the entangled states extend over the 0.7-millimeter distance between the two qubits.

DOI
10.1126/science.1084528

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We present spectroscopic evidence for the creation of entangled macroscopic quantum states in two current-biased Josephson-junction qubits coupled by a capacitor. The individual junction bias currents are used to control the interaction between the qubits by tuning the energy level spacings of the junctions in and out of resonance with each other. Microwave spectroscopy in the 4 to 6 gigahertzrange at 20 millikelvin reveals energy levels that agree well with theoretical results for entangled states. The single qubits are spatially separate, and the entangled states extend over the 0.7-millimeter distance between the two qubits.
We study the quantum mechanical behavior of a macroscopic, three-body, superconducting circuit. Microwave spectroscopy on our system, a resonator coupling two large Josephson junctions, produced complex energy spectra well explained by quantum theory over a large frequency range. By tuning each junction separately into resonance with the resonator, we first observe strong coupling between each junction and the resonator. Bringing both junctions together into resonance with the resonator, we find spectroscopic evidence for entanglement between all 3 degrees of freedom and suggest a new method for controllable coupling of distant qubits, a key step toward quantum computation.
We show that two capacitively coupled Josephson junctions, in the quantum limit, form a simple coupled qubit system with effective coupling controlled by the junction bias currents. We compute numerically the energy levels and wave functions for the system, and show how these may be tuned to make optimal qubits. The dependence of the energy levels on the parameters can be measured spectroscopically, providing an important experimental test for the presence of entangled multiqubit states in Josephson-junction based circuits.
Superconducting quantum bits (qubits) are currently being developed as promising candidates for implementations in quantum computers. Although the quality of single qubits has been improving with coherence times sufficiently long to allow manipulation of the states of the qubit, the ability to couple, or entangle, qubits together will be required for quantum computing to be realized. Taking initial steps along this route, Berkley et al. (p. 1548) entangled two macroscopic quantum systems, current-biased Josephson junctions, that were separated by 0.7 millimeters but coupled via capacitors. Spectroscopic studies show that the electronic energy levels correspond to those expected for entanglement of the two qubits.
In the microscopic world, multipartite entanglement has been achieved with various types of nanometer-sized two-level systems such as trapped ions, atoms and photons. On the macroscopic scale ranging from micrometers to millimeters, recent experiments have demonstrated bipartite and tripartite entanglement for electronic quantum circuits with superconducting Josephson junctions. It remains challenging to bridge these largely different length scales by constructing hybrid quantum systems. Doing so may allow us to manipulate the entanglement of individual microscopic objects separated by macroscopically large distances in a quantum circuit. Here we report on the experimental demonstration of induced coherent interaction between two intrinsic two-level states (TLSs) formed by atomic-scale defects in a solid via a superconducting phase qubit. The tunable superconducting circuit serves as a shuttle communicating quantum information between the two microscopic TLSs. We present a detailed comparison between experiment and theory and find excellent agreement over a wide range of parameters. We then use the theoretical model to study the creation and movement of entanglement between the three components of the quantum system.
We theoretically study macroscopic quantum entanglement in two superconducting flux qubits. To manipulate the state of two flux qubits, a Josephson junction is introduced in the connecting loop coupling the qubits. Increasing the coupling energy of the Josephson junction makes it possible to achieve relatively strong coupling between the qubits, causing two-qubit tunneling processes to be even dominant over the single-qubit tunneling processes in the states of two qubits. It is shown that due to the two-qubit tunneling processes, both the ground state and excited states of the coupled flux qubits can be a Bell type of maximally entangled state, in experimentally accessible regimes. The parameter regimes for the Bell states are discussed in terms of magnetic flux and Josephson coupling energies.