In this dissertation work, I investigate the decoherence time of a Josephson vortex qubit (JVQ) and the level of entanglement between two JVQs. A JVQ may be fabricated by embedding two closely spaced microresistors in the insulating layer of a long Josephson junction (LJJ). The phase dynamics of the JVQ may be described by using the perturbed sine-Gordon equation. This sine-Gordon equation is transformed to describe the motion of fluxons in the double-well potential. An oscillation of a fluxon in this double-well potential is mapped onto a quantum two-state system. The coherent oscillation of fluxons in the two-state system decays due to dissipation and noises in the LJJ. To estimate the decoherence time, the two-state system in a noisy environment is described by using the spin-boson Hamiltonian. The time evolution of the system is studied by using the generalized master equation. Finally, I use the experimental parameters for Nb-AlOx-Nb Josephson junction to estimate the decoherence time. The result shows that JVQ has a very long decoherence time (several tens of microseconds) compared to other Josephson qubits. Entanglement between two coupled JVQs is estimated by computing the concurrence. The concurrence depends on the ground-state energy splitting due to the one-fluxon and two-fluxon tunneling between the potential minima of the two coupled JVQs. The tunneling amplitude between the potential minima depends on the junction parameters such as magnetic induction effect S, the separation distance ℓ, and the pinning strength of the microresistors ϵ. The estimation of the concurrence shows that a near perfect entanglement may be achieved by using the experimentally accessible values of the parameters. Also the study shows that the tunneling amplitude of the fluxon between the potential minima of the JVQs may be increased by coupling the junction with a resonant cavity. This characteristic of the junction-cavity coupling may be exploited to control the entanglement between two JVQs.
In this dissertation work, I investigate the decoherence time of a Josephson vortex qubit (JVQ) and the level of entanglement between two JVQs. A JVQ may be fabricated by embedding two closely spaced microresistors in the insulating layer of a long Josephson junction (LJJ). The phase dynamics of the JVQ may be described by using the perturbed sine-Gordon equation. This sine-Gordon equation is transformed to describe the motion of fluxons in the double-well potential. An oscillation of a fluxon in this double-well potential is mapped onto a quantum two-state system. The coherent oscillation of fluxons in the two-state system decays due to dissipation and noises in the LJJ. To estimate the decoherence time, the two-state system in a noisy environment is described by using the spin-boson Hamiltonian. The time evolution of the system is studied by using the generalized master equation. Finally, I use the experimental parameters for Nb-AlOx-Nb Josephson junction to estimate the decoherence time. The result shows that JVQ has a very long decoherence time (several tens of microseconds) compared to other Josephson qubits. Entanglement between two coupled JVQs is estimated by computing the concurrence. The concurrence depends on the ground-state energy splitting due to the one-fluxon and two-fluxon tunneling between the potential minima of the two coupled JVQs. The tunneling amplitude between the potential minima depends on the junction parameters such as magnetic induction effect S, the separation distance ℓ, and the pinning strength of the microresistors ϵ. The estimation of the concurrence shows that a near perfect entanglement may be achieved by using the experimentally accessible values of the parameters. Also the study shows that the tunneling amplitude of the fluxon between the potential minima of the JVQs may be increased by coupling the junction with a resonant cavity. This characteristic of the junction-cavity coupling may be exploited to control the entanglement between two JVQs.
We investigated decoherence of a Josephson vortex quantum bit (qubit) in dissipative and noisy environment. As the Josephson vortex qubit (JVQ) is fabricated by using a long Josephson junction (LJJ), we use the perturbed sine-Gordon equation to describe the phase dynamics representing a two-state system and estimate the effects of quasiparticle dissipation and weakly fluctuating critical and bias currents on the relaxation time T1 and on the dephasing time ${T}_{\ensuremath{\phi}}$. We show that the critical current fluctuation does not contribute to dephasing of the qubit in the lowest order approximation. Modeling the weak current variation from magnetic field fluctuations in the LJJ by using the Gaussian colored noise with long correlation time, we show that the coherence time T2 is limited by the low frequency current noise at very low temperatures. Also, we show that a ultra-long coherence time may be obtained from the JVQ by using experimentally accessible value of physical parameters.
I studied the Josephson junction system in the context of its usability for quan-tum computation. The zero-voltage state of a Josephson junction biased with constant current has a set of metastable quantum energy levels. In principle, it should be possible to use the two lowest states as a qubit for a quantum computer, provided both the dissipation time and coherence time of this qubit can be made long enough. I describe two methods for isolating a Josephson junction to increase its dissipation time. The rst is a resistive isolation scheme, for which I fabricated and measured a prototype system. I discuss the results of these measurements and show that the constraints of heating in conjunction with high-frequency design require-ments make it unlikely that this isolation method will lead to the coherence times required for quantum computation. I then discuss a resonant isolation method that I used to successfully increase the dissipation time of a Josephson junction qubit. I performed spectroscopic mea-surements at low temperatures to nd the coherence time of resonantly isolated 100 m2 Al/AlOx/Al and Nb/AlOx/Nb junctions with critical currents of roughly 10 A. The results of these measurements reveal two mechanisms beyond spontaneous emission for decoherence: low-frequency current noise and tunneling to the voltage state. To explain these results on decoherence, I present a model based on the Bloch equations. Going beyond a single qubit, I designed a capacitively coupled two-qubit system. Using spectroscopy, I showed that the energy level spacings between the ground state and the excited entangled states of the system agree with those calculated from the Schrodinger equation.
This thesis examines Josephson tunnel junctions as candidate qubits for quantum computation. A large area current-biased junction, known as a phase qubit, uses the two lowest energy levels in a tilted washboard potential as the qubit states |0> and |1>. I performed experiments with 10 x 10 um^2 Nb/AlOx/Nb qubit junctions, with critical currents of roughly 30 uA. The state of a device was initialized by cooling below 50 mK in a dilution refrigerator. In order for quantum mechanical superpositions to be long-lived, it is necessary to isolate the junction from noisy bias leads that originate at room temperature. I studied two types of isolation: an LC filter, and a broadband scheme that used an auxiliary junction, resulting in a dc SQUID. One of the main goals of this work was to determine how well a simple Hamiltonian, derived assuming just a few lumped elements, describes the observed behavior of a macroscopic Josephson device, including coherent dynamics such as Rabi oscillations. I did this by comparing results to the expected behavior of ideal two-level systems and with more detailed master equation and density matrix simulations. I performed state manipulation by applying dc bias currents and resonant microwave currents, and through temperature control. The tunneling escape rate of the junction from the states |0> and |1> (zero voltage) to the running state (finite voltage) depends on the occupation probability of the energy levels and served as state readout. Experiments to measure the relaxation time T1 between |1> and |0> were performed by examining the dependence of the escape rate with temperature, yielding a maximum T1 = 15 ns. Measuring the decay to the ground state after applying a microwave pulse revealed at least two time constants, one of about 10 ns and another as long as 50 ns. The spectroscopic coherence time T2* was estimated to be roughly 5 ns by measuring resonance widths and the decay envelope of coherent Rabi oscillations was found to have a time constant T' = 10 ns over a wide range of conditions.
This work concerns the study of Josephson junction circuits in the context of their usability for quantum computing. The zero-voltage state of a current-biased Josephson junction has a set of metastable quantum energy levels. If a junction is well isolated from its environment, it will be possible to use the two lowest states as a qubit in a quantum computer. I first examine the meaning of isolation theoretically. Using a master equation, I analyzed the effect of dissipation on escape rates and suggested a simple method, population depletion technique, to measure the relaxation time. Using a stochastic Bloch equation to analyze microwave resonance shapes, I found a relation between current noise induced decoherence and the noise spectrum. I then analyze and test a few qubit isolation schemes, including resistive isolation, inductor-capacitor (LC) isolation, and inductor-junction (LJ) isolation. I found the resistive isolation scheme has a severe heating problem. Macroscopic quantum tunneling and energy level quantization were observed in the LC isolated junction qubits at 25 mK. Relaxation times of 4-12 ns and spectroscopic coherence times of 1-3 ns were obtained for these LC isolated qubits. I measured a relaxation time of 50 ns and a spectroscopic coherence time of 5-8 ns for the LJ isolated junction qubit. Both times are much longer than those of the LC isolated qubits. Rabi oscillations were also observed on this sample with a decay time of around 10 ns. Using microwave spectroscopy techniques, I probed quantum phenomena in a coupled macroscopic three-qubit system that is comprised of two Nb/AlOx/Nb Josephson junctions and an LC resonator. The measured spectrum at 25 mK in the frequency range 4-15 GHz agrees well with quantum mechanical calculations, consistent with the existence of entangled states between the three degrees of freedom. These entangled states and a first-order strong coupling between two junction qubits open the possibility of using a resonator as a data bus for information storage and manipulation in a multi-qubit system. The measurements also demonstrate spectroscopy is a powerful tool and can be used to study a composite system with many qubits.
The research work discussed in this thesis deals with the study of superconducting Josephson qubits. Superconducting qubits are solid-state artificial atoms which are based on lithographically defined Josephson tunnel junctions properties. When sufficiently cooled, these superconducting devices exhibit quantized states of charge, flux or junction phase depending on their design parameters. This allows to observe coherent evolutions of their states. The results presented can be divided into two parts. In a first part we investigate operations of superconducting qubits based on the quantum coherence in superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUID). We explain experimental data which has been observed in a SQUID subjected to fast, large-amplitude modifications of its effective potential shape. The motivations for this work come from the fact that in the past few years there have been attempts to interpret the supposed quantum behavior of physical systems, such as Josephson devices, within a classical framework. Moreover, we analyze the possibility of generating GHZ states, namely maximally entangled states, in a quantum system made out of three Josephson qubits. In particular, we investigate the possible limitations of the GHZ state generation due to coupling to bosonic baths. In the second part of the thesis we address a particular cause of decoherence of flux qubits which has been disregarded until now: thermal gradients, which can arise due to accidental non equilibrium quasiparticle distributions. The reason for these detrimental effects is that heat currents flowing through Josephson tunnel junctions in response to a temperature gradient are periodic functions of the phase difference between the electrodes. The phase dependence of the heat current comes from Andreev reflection, namely an interplay between the quasiparticles which carry heat and the superconducting condensate which is sensitive to the superconducting phase difference. Generally speaking, the flux qubit states are characterized by different values of the phase difference through their Josephson junctions. Consequently, the phase-dependent thermal current through a device subject a temperature gradient is related to the phase-dependent qubit states. We study how the thermal currents change according to the state of the qubits hence yielding a measurement of the qubit state. This in turn leads to an impact of temperature gradient on the dynamics of the system. We show that flux qubits in the Delft qubit design can have limitations of the decoherence time to the order of microseconds as a result of this newly discovered source of decoherence. In contrast, the fluxonium qubit is found to be well protected due to its superinductance.
Although Josephson junction qubits show great promise for quantum computing, the origin of dominant decoherence mechanisms remains unknown. Improving the operation of a Josephson junction based phase qubit has revealed microscopic two-level systems or resonators within the tunnel barrier that cause decoherence. We report spectroscopic data that show a level splitting characteristic of coupling between a two-state qubit and a two-level system. Furthermore, we show Rabi oscillations whose "coherence amplitude" is significantly degraded by the presence of these spurious microwave resonators. The discovery of these resonators impacts the future of Josephson qubits as well as existing Josephson technologies.