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Oxford University Press eBooks

Nondegenerate, three‐wave mixing with Josephson junctions

Michel Devoret, Archana Kamal, Baleegh Abdo

Published Jul 26, 2012• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Non-linear microwave devices based on Josephson tunnel junctions and operating near the quantum limit have so far been based on SQUIDS and degenerate parametrically pumped oscillators, or related systems. This chapter addresses a new type of Josephson device operation that performs quantum analog signal processing, namely that of non-degenerate three-wave mixing. Both quantum-limited amplification and frequency conversion are possible with such devices, and their characteristics are entirely calculable analytically. The chapter in particular discusses the relationships between photon number gain, bandwidth, and dynamic range.

DOI
10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199691388.003.0005

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Non-linear microwave devices based on Josephson tunnel junctions and operating near the quantum limit have so far been based on SQUIDS and degenerate parametrically pumped oscillators, or related systems. This chapter addresses a new type of Josephson device operation that performs quantum analog signal processing, namely that of non-degenerate three-wave mixing. Both quantum-limited amplification and frequency conversion are possible with such devices, and their characteristics are entirely calculable analytically. The chapter in particular discusses the relationships between photon number gain, bandwidth, and dynamic range.
Three-wave mixing devices, i.e. non-linear circuits converting power among three microwave signals, are key elements of analog information processing in the microwave domain. However, they are based on dissipative components such as semiconductor diodes, or SIS tunnel junctions biased near the superconducting gap. The loss of signal limits their operation and also introduces noise above the minimum required by quantum mechanics. By using Josephson junctions and superconducting resonators, we've been able to build such a quantum device. In its amplification mode, this device can be used as a preamplifier in many experiments where a few photon wide microwave signals must be measured by commercial instruments, which are sensitive to powers several orders of magnitude larger. The price to pay for this amplification is the necessary degradation of information. Indeed, an extension of the no-cloning theorem imposes that a linear phase preserving amplifier adds at least half a quantum of noise to the signal. By amplifying the finite frequency noise emitted by an NIN tunnel junction, we demonstrated that the total measurement chain adds less than 2.3 quanta to this limit thanks to our device. The operating principle of this device is based on Josephson parametric amplification. I will explain this mechanism and show preliminary results which illustrate that it can generate quantum correlated pairs of spatially separated photons with different wavelengths known as two-mode squeezed states. This experiment exploits the tunability of our device and the ease-of-use inherent to micro-wave circuits to perform a quantum optics experiment demonstrating this entanglement.
Three-wave mixing devices, i.e. non-linear circuits converting power among three microwave signals, are key elements of analog information processing in the microwave domain. However, they are based on dissipative components such as semiconductor diodes, or SIS tunnel junctions biased near the superconducting gap. The loss of signal limits their operation and also introduces noise above the minimum required by quantum mechanics. By using Josephson junctions and superconducting resonators, we've been able to build such a quantum device. In its amplification mode, this device can be used as a preamplifier in many experiments where a few photon wide microwave signals must be measured by commercial instruments, which are sensitive to powers several orders of magnitude larger. The price to pay for this amplification is the necessary degradation of information. Indeed, an extension of the no-cloning theorem imposes that a linear phase preserving amplifier adds at least half a quantum of noise to the signal. By amplifying the finite frequency noise emitted by an NIN tunnel junction, we demonstrated that the total measurement chain adds less than 2.3 quanta to this limit thanks to our device. The operating principle of this device is based on Josephson parametric amplification. I will explain this mechanism and present results which illustrate that it can generate quantum correlated pairs of spatially separated photons with different wavelengths known as two-mode squeezed states. This experiment exploits the tunability of our device and the ease-of-use inherent to micro-wave circuits to perform a quantum optics experiment demonstrating this entanglement.
The Josephson ring modulator (JRM) is a device, based on Josephson tunnel junctions, capable of performing nondegenerate mixing in the microwave regime without losses. The generic scattering matrix of the device is calculated by solving coupled quantum Langevin equations. Its form shows that the device can achieve quantum-limited noise performance both as an amplifier and a mixer. Fundamental limitations on simultaneous optimization of performance metrics like gain, bandwidth, and dynamic range (including the effect of pump depletion) are discussed. We also present three possible integrations of the JRM as the active medium in a different electromagnetic environment. The resulting circuits, named Josephson parametric converters (JPC), are discussed in detail, and experimental data on their dynamic range are found to be in good agreement with theoretical predictions. We also discuss future prospects and requisite optimization of JPC as a preamplifier for qubit readout applications.
This short and opinionated review starts with the concept of quantum signals at microwave frequencies and focuses on the principle of linear parametric amplification. This process emerges from the dispersive nonlinearity of Josephson junctions driven with appropriate tones. We discuss two defining characteristics of the corresponding amplifying devices: i) the number of modes excited by the signal, idler and pump waves and ii) the number of independent ports through which these waves enter into the circuit.
In the last few years, several groups have proposed and developed their own platforms demonstrating quantum-limited linear parametric amplification, with evident applications in quantum information and computation, electrical and optical metrology, radio astronomy, and basic physics concerning axion detection. Here, we propose a short review on the physics behind parametric amplification via metamaterials composed by coplanar waveguides embedding several Josephson junctions. We present and compare different schemes that exploit the nonlinearity of the Josephson current-phase relation to mix the so-called signal, idler, and pump tones. The chapter then presents and compares three different theoretical models, developed in the last few years, to predict the dynamics of these nonlinear systems in the particular case of a 4-wave mixing process and under the degenerate undepleted pump assumption. We will demonstrate that, under the same assumption, all the results are comparable in terms of amplification of the output fields.
We present the first experimental realization of a widely frequency tunable, nondegenerate three-wave mixing device for quantum signals at gigahertz frequency. It is based on a new superconducting building block consisting of a ring of four Josephson junctions shunted by a cross of four linear inductances. The phase configuration of the ring remains unique over a wide range of magnetic fluxes threading the loop. It is thus possible to vary the inductance of the ring with flux while retaining a strong, dissipation-free, and noiseless nonlinearity. The device has been operated in amplifier mode, and its noise performance has been evaluated by using the noise spectrum emitted by a voltage-biased tunnel junction at finite frequency as a test signal. The unprecedented accuracy with which the crossover between zero-point fluctuations and shot noise has been measured provides an upper bound for the noise and dissipation intrinsic to the device.