The robustness of quantum synchronization induced by the dynamical Casimir effect (DCE) is analyzed within a circuit quantum electrodynamics (cQED) architecture consisting of two superconducting qubits coupled to a shared, parametrically driven cavity. Using a Lindblad master equation approach, this study evaluates the impact of various decoherence channels (including photon loss, relaxation, thermal excitation, and pure dephasing) on the resulting synchronization dynamics. The results demonstrate that DCE-induced synchronization persists under dissipation rates achievable in state-of-the-art superconducting platforms, confirming its experimental feasibility. Among the studied mechanisms, pure dephasing is identified as the dominant factor limiting the fidelity of the synchronized state. Furthermore, it is shown that in strongly dissipative regimes, the Pearson correlation coefficient may overestimate the degree of quantum synchronization, as environmental relaxation can generate classical correlations that mimic synchronized behavior. These findings establish the parameter regimes necessary for observing genuine DCE-induced quantum synchronization and provide practical guidelines for future cQED experiments.
We investigate a quantum-circuit analog of the dynamical Casimir effect discussed in cavity quantum electrodynamics (QED). A double superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID), consisting of a superconducting loop interrupted by a dc-SQUID, is regarded as a harmonic oscillator with a time-dependent frequency imitating the nonadiabatic boundaries in a cavity QED. Squeezing occurs due to parametric processes inherent in the system. We reformulate squeezing based on the Bogoliubov transformation between eigenstates at different times and derive the analytic formula for quantum-state evolutions of the system. The squeezing parameter clearly reveals the relationship between squeezing and nonadiabatic nature of the system. Thus, the squeezing parameter serves as a measure for the dynamical Casimir effect. We demonstrate squeezing for two types of frequency modulation and propose a method for measuring squeezing by using a circuit QED technique under coherent oscillations between an artificial atom and an LC circuit in the presence of dissipation. These observations suggest that a quantum circuit with a Josephson junction is a promising candidate for detecting the dynamical Casimir effect.
When one of the parameters in the Euler-Lagrange equations of motion of a system is modulated, particles can be generated out of the quantum vacuum. This phenomenon is known as the dynamical Casimir effect, and it was recently realized experimentally in systems of superconducting circuits, for example by using modulated resonators made of coplanar waveguides, or arrays of superconducting quantum intereference devices (SQUIDs) forming a Josephson metamaterial. In this paper, we consider a simple electrical circuit model for dynamical Casimir effects, consisting of an LC resonator, with the inductor modulated externally at 10.8 GHz and with the resonant frequency tunable over a range of
± 400 MHz around 5.4 GHz. The circuit is analyzed classically using a circuit simulator (APLAC). We demonstrate that if an additional source of classical noise couples to the resonator (on top of the quantum vacuum), for example via dissipative "internal modes", then the resulting spectrum of the photons in the cavity will present two strongly asymmetric branches. However, according to the theory of the dynamical Casimir effect, these branches should be symmetric, a prediction which is confirmed by our experimental data. The simulation presented here therefore shows that the origin of the photons generated in our experiment with Josephson metamaterials is the quantum vacuum, and not a spurious classical noise source.