Quantum measurements play a central role in quantum information processing. Understanding the mechanism of the quantum measurements is essential to both improve the visibility of the readout and decrease the projection error during measurement. Here, we describe and demonstrate an experimental protocol for quantifying a measurement backaction when we readout a superconducting flux qubit using a Josephson bifurcation amplifier. The coupling with the Josephson bifurcation amplifier induces a dephasing on the flux qubit during the readout. We have succeeded in estimating and controlling the strength of such a measurement-induced dephasing by changing the pulse height of the microwave driving. Our results are crucial for designing a suitable quantum readout technique for the realization of practical quantum devices.
Quantum measurements play a central role in quantum information processing. Understanding the mechanism of the quantum measurements is essential to both improve the visibility of the readout and decrease the projection error during measurement. Here, we describe and demonstrate an experimental protocol for quantifying a measurement backaction when we readout a superconducting flux qubit using a Josephson bifurcation amplifier. The coupling with the Josephson bifurcation amplifier induces a dephasing on the flux qubit during the readout. We have succeeded in estimating and controlling the strength of such a measurement-induced dephasing by changing the pulse height of the microwave driving. Our results are crucial for designing a suitable quantum readout technique for the realization of practical quantum devices.
We succeeded in controlling the measurement strength of a macroscopic quantum system, namely a persistent current quantum bit (qubit), by using a transmission line type Josephson bifurcation amplifier (JBA: an ac-driven superconducting quantum interferometer device) as a probe. By employing a special pulse sequence, we found that the weighted average of the Ramsey fringe visibility ( α -value) can be used as an indicator of quantum state projection. The sudden change in the α -value magnitude at around the threshold suggests that an entangled state of the qubit–JBA composite system settles in one of the two possible classically correlated qubit–JBA states caused by strong decoherence. This is an important result in terms of understanding the mechanisms of quantum state measurement.
We analyzed the Josephson bifurcation amplifier (JBA) readout process of a superconducting qubit quantum mechanically by calculating the dynamics of the density operator of a driven nonlinear oscillator and a qubit coupled system during the measurement process. In purely quantum cases, bifurcation is impossible. Introducing decoherence enables us to reproduce the bifurcation with a finite hysteresis. When a qubit is initially in a superposition state, we have observed the qubit-probe (JBA) entangled state, and it is divided into two separable states at the moment the JBA transition begins. This corresponds to "projection." To readout the measurement result, however, we must wait until the two JBA states are macroscopically well separated. The waiting time is determined by the strength of the decoherence in the JBA.
The mitigation of dephasing poses a significant challenge in improving the performance of error-prone superconducting quantum computing systems. Here, we investigate the dephasing of a transmon qubit in a dispersive readout regime using a Josephson travelling-wave parametric amplifier as the preamplifier. Our findings reveal that the potent pump leakage from the preamplifier may lead to severe dephasing. This issue could be attributed to a mixture of measurement-induced dephasing, ac Stark effect, and heating. We show that pulse-mode readout is a promising measurement scheme to mitigate qubit dephasing while minimizing the need for bulky circulators. Our work provides key insights into mitigating decoherence from microwave-pumped preamplifiers, which will be critical for advancing large-scale quantum computers.
We have controlled the measurement strength of the qubit readout process by using a Josephson bifurcation amplifier (JBA : an AC-driven SQUID). The optimum readout pulse changes the superposition state into an eigenstate. To clarify how a sufficiently strong measurement causes a projection phenomenon, we have studied the projection conditions in the JBA readout. We found that the projection occurs above the pulse height at which visibility starts to appear. Furthermore, the projection continues to occur as readout strength increases, even though the visibility vanishes. This result helps us understanding the JBA readout process.
Though superconducting qubits offer the potential for a scalable quantum computing architecture, the high-fidelity readout necessary to execute practical algorithms has thus far remained elusive. Moreover, achievements toward high fidelity have been accompanied by either long measurement times or demolition of the quantum state. In this dissertation, we address these issues with the novel integration of two ultralow-noise, superconducting amplifiers into separate dispersive flux qubit measurements. We first demonstrate a flux qubit inductively coupled to a 1.294-GHz nonlinear oscillator formed by a capacitively shunted DC SQUID. The frequency of the oscillator is modulated by the state of the qubit and is detected via microwave reflectometry. A microstrip SQUID (Superconducting QUantum Interference Device) amplifier (MSA) is used to increase the sensitivity of the measurement over that of a semiconductor amplifier. In the second experiment, we report measurements of a flux qubit coupled via a shared inductance to a quasi-lumped element 5.78-GHz readout resonator formed by the parallel combination of an interdigitated capacitor and a meander line inductor. The system noise is substantially reduced by a near-quantum-limited Josephson parametric amplifier (paramp).We present measurements of increased fidelity and reduced measurement backaction using the MSA at readout excitation levels as low as one hundredth of a photon in the readout resonator, observing a 4.5-fold increase in the readout visibility. Furthermore, at low readout excitation levels below one tenth of a photon in the readout resonator, no reduction in T1 is observed, potentially enabling continuous monitoring of the qubit state. Using the paramp, we demonstrate a continuous, high-fidelity readout with sufficient bandwidth and signal-to-noise ratio to resolve quantum jumps in the flux qubit. This is enabled by a readout which discriminates between the readout pointer state distributions to an error below one part in 1000. This, along with the ability to make many successive readouts in a time T1, permits the use of heralding to ensure initialization to a fiducial state, such as the ground state. This method enables us to eliminate errors due to spurious thermal population, increasing the fidelity to 93.9%. Finally, we use heralding to introduce a simple, fast qubit reset protocol without changing the system parameters to induce Purcell relaxation.
The act of observing a quantum object fundamentally perturbs its state, resulting in a random walk toward an eigenstate of the measurement operator. Ideally, the measurement is responsible for all dephasing of the quantum state. In practice, imperfections in the measurement apparatus limit or corrupt the flow of information required for quantum feedback protocols, an effect quantified by the measurement efficiency. Here, we demonstrate the efficient measurement of a superconducting qubit using a nonreciprocal parametric amplifier to directly monitor the microwave field of a readout cavity. By mitigating the losses between the cavity and the amplifier, we achieve a measurement efficiency of (72±4)%. The directionality of the amplifier protects the readout cavity and qubit from excess backaction caused by amplified vacuum fluctuations. In addition to providing tools for further improving the fidelity of strong projective measurement, this work creates a test bed for the experimental study of ideal weak measurements, and it opens the way toward quantum feedback protocols based on weak measurement such as state stabilization or error correction.