Abstract Here we consider a tunable superconducting cavity that can be used either as a tunable coupler to a qubit inside the cavity or as a tunable low noise, low temperature, RF filter. Our design consists of an array of radio-frequency superconducting quantum interference devices (rf SQUIDs) inside a superconducting cavity. This forms a tunable metamaterial structure which couples to the cavity through its magnetic plasma frequency. By tuning the resonant frequency of the metamaterial through an applied magnetic flux, one can tune the cavity mode profile. This allows us to detune the cavity initially centered at 5.593 GHz by over 200 MHz. The maximum quality factor approaches that of the empty cavity, which is 4.5 × 106. The metamaterial electromagnetic response is controlled via a low-frequency or dc magnetic flux bias, and we present a control line architecture that is capable of applying sufficient magnetic flux bias with minimal parasitic coupling. Together this design allows for an in-situ tunable cavity which enables low-temperature quantum control applications.
Abstract Here we consider a tunable superconducting cavity that can be used either as a tunable coupler to a qubit inside the cavity or as a tunable low noise, low temperature, RF filter. Our design consists of an array of radio-frequency superconducting quantum interference devices (rf SQUIDs) inside a superconducting cavity. This forms a tunable metamaterial structure which couples to the cavity through its magnetic plasma frequency. By tuning the resonant frequency of the metamaterial through an applied magnetic flux, one can tune the cavity mode profile. This allows us to detune the cavity initially centered at 5.593 GHz by over 200 MHz. The maximum quality factor approaches that of the empty cavity, which is 4.5 × 106. The metamaterial electromagnetic response is controlled via a low-frequency or dc magnetic flux bias, and we present a control line architecture that is capable of applying sufficient magnetic flux bias with minimal parasitic coupling. Together this design allows for an in-situ tunable cavity which enables low-temperature quantum control applications.
We have prepared meta-atoms based on radio-frequency superconducting quantum-interference devices (rf SQUIDs) and examined their tunability with dc magnetic field, rf current, and temperature. rf SQUIDs are superconducting split-ring resonators in which the usual capacitance is supplemented with a Josephson junction, which introduces strong nonlinearity in the rf properties. We find excellent agreement between the data and a model that regards the Josephson junction as the resistively and capacitively shunted junction. A magnetic field tunability of 80 THz=G at 12 GHz is observed, a total tunability of 56% is achieved, and a unique electromagnetically induced transparency feature at intermediate excitation powers is demonstrated for the first time. An rf SQUID metamaterial is shown to have qualitatively the same behavior as a single rf SQUID with regard to dc flux and temperature tuning.
Metamamterials are 1D, 2D or 3D arrays of articial atoms. The articial atoms, called "meta-atoms", can be any component with tailorable electromagnetic properties, such as resonators, LC circuits, nano particles, and so on. By designing the properties of individual meta-atoms and the interaction created by putting them in a lattice, one can create a metamaterial with intriguing properties not found in nature. My Ph. D. work examines the meta-atoms based on radio frequency superconducting quantum interference devices (rf-SQUIDs); their tunability with dc magnetic field, rf magnetic field, and temperature are studied. The rf-SQUIDs are superconducting split ring resonators in which the usual capacitance is supplemented with a Josephson junction, which introduces strong nonlinearity in the rf properties. At relatively low rf magnetic field, a magnetic field tunability of the resonant frequency of up to 80 THz/Gauss by dc magnetic field is observed, and a total frequency tunability of 100% is achieved. The macroscopic quantum superconducting metamaterial also shows manipulative self-induced broadband transparency due to a qualitatively novel nonlinear mechanism that is different from conventional electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) or its classical analogs. A near complete disappearance of resonant absorption under a range of applied rf flux is observed experimentally and explained theoretically. The transparency comes from the intrinsic bi-stability and can be tuned on/ off easily by altering rf and dc magnetic fields, temperature and history. Hysteretic in situ 100% tunability of transparency paves the way for auto-cloaking metamaterials, intensity dependent filters, and fast-tunable power limiters. An rf-SQUID metamaterial is shown to have qualitatively the same behavior as a single rf-SQUID with regards to dc flux, rf flux and temperature tuning. The two-tone response of self-resonant rf-SQUID meta-atoms and metamaterials is then studied here via intermodulation (IM) measurement over a broad range of tone frequencies and tone powers. A sharp onset followed by a surprising strongly suppressed IM region near the resonance is observed. This behavior can be understood employing methods in nonlinear dynamics; the sharp onset, and the gap of IM, are due to sudden state jumps during a beat of the two-tone sum input signal. The theory predicts that the IM can be manipulated with tone power, center frequency, frequency difference between the two tones, and temperature. This quantitative understanding potentially allows for the design of rf-SQUID metamaterials with either very low or very high IM response.
In this licentiate thesis design, fabrication, and measurements of tunable superconducting microwave transmission line resonators are described. The resonators are of quarter wavelength type were the tuning is achieved by changing one of the boundary conditions of the resonator through a tunable impedance. As tunable impedance the Josephson inductance in form of SQUIDs is used. The Josephson inductance can then be tuned by applying a magnetic field to the SQUID loop. A tuning range of 750 MHz for a 5 GHz resonator is achieved, and as a figure of merit it can be tuned over 200 line widths. The purpose of the tunable resonators is to use them for dynamic coupling of superconducting quantum bits, this requires that the resonators can be tuned fast on the timescale of the resonator-qubit coupling. To measure tuning speeds faster then the ring up time of the resonators a method that measures the leakage of energy out of a detuned resonator was developed. With this method a frequency shift of the energy stored in the resonator can be measured. A detuning of 330 MHz in less than 10 ns is demonstrated for a 4.5 GHz resonator with a quality factor of 104. Working in the few photon limit indicates that the devices can be used to change the frequency of individual photons, this is however still to be demonstrated. As a part of this work the dressed states of a superconducting charge qubit was also studied.
A wide variety of applications of microwave cavities, such as measurement and control of superconducting qubits, magnonic resonators, and phase noise filters, would be well served by having a highly tunable microwave resonance. Often this tunability is desired in situ at low temperatures, where one can take advantage of superconducting cavities. To date, such cryogenic tuning while maintaining a high quality factor has been limited to ∼500 MHz. Here we demonstrate a three-dimensional superconducting microwave cavity that shares one wall with a pressurized volume of helium. Upon pressurization of the helium chamber, the microwave cavity is deformed, which results in in situ tuning of its resonant frequency by more than 5 GHz, greater than 60% of the original 8 GHz resonant frequency. The quality factor of the cavity remains approximately constant at ≈7 × 103 over the entire range of tuning. As a demonstration of its usefulness, we implement a tunable cryogenic phase noise filter, which reduces the phase noise of our source by approximately 10 dB above 400 kHz.
Superconducting metamaterials show the promise of low loss, compact size and extreme tunability and nonlinearity, allowing for new applications. Most demonstrations of these metamaterials have been conducted in waveguide geometries, either in co-planar form or three-dimensional single-conductor structures. Here we demonstrate for the first time a widely tunable superconducting metamaterial operating under the free-space illumination of a quasi-optical beam in the 100 GHz regime. The meta-atoms are Radio Frequency Superconducting QUantum Interference Devices (RF SQUIDs) that form compact self-resonant objects endowed with the nonlinearity of the Josephson effect. The metamaterial is tuned with dc magnetic flux, temperature and mm-wave power, and holds promise for a new generation of mm-wave agile devices. This work is supported by the NSF-GOALI and OISE programs through grant #ECCS-1158644, and CNAM.
We use a flux-biased radio frequency superconducting quantum interference device (rf SQUID) with an embedded flux-biased direct current SQUID to generate strong resonant and nonresonant tunable interactions between a phase qubit and a lumped-element resonator. The rf SQUID creates a tunable magnetic susceptibility between the qubit and resonator providing resonant coupling strengths from zero to near the ultrastrong coupling regime. By modulating the magnetic susceptibility, nonresonant parametric coupling achieves rates >100 MHz. Nonlinearity of the magnetic susceptibility also leads to parametric coupling at the subharmonics of the qubit-resonator detuning.