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Physical Review A

Spin-wave-based tunable coupler between superconducting flux qubits

Shaojie Yuan, Chuan‐Pu Liu, Jilei Chen, Song Liu, Jin Lan, Haiming Yu, Jiansheng Wu, Fei Yan, Man‐Hong Yung, Jiang Xiao, Liang Jiang, Dapeng Yu

Published Jan 30, 2023• 7 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Quantum computing and simulation based on superconducting qubits have achieved significant progress and entered the noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) era recently. Using a third qubit or object as a tunable coupler between qubits is an important step in this process. In this article, we propose a hybrid system made of superconducting qubit and a yttrium iron garnet (YIG) system as an alternative way to realize this. YIG thin films have spin wave (magnon) modes with low dissipation and reliable control for quantum information processing. Here, we propose a scheme to achieve strong coherent coupling between superconducting (SC) flux qubits and magnon modes in YIG thin film. Unlike the direct $\sqrt{N}$ enhancement factor in coupling to the Kittel mode and other spin ensembles, with $N$ the total number of spins, an additional spatial-dependent phase factor needs to be considered when the qubits are magnetically coupled with the magnon modes of finite wavelength. To avoid undesirable cancellation of coupling caused by the symmetrical boundary condition, a CoFeB thin layer is added to one side of the YIG thin film to break the symmetry. Our numerical simulation demonstrates avoided crossing and coherent transfer of quantum information between the flux qubit and the standing spin waves in YIG thin films. We show that the YIG thin film can be used as a tunable coupler between two flux qubits, which have a modified shape with small direct inductive coupling between them. Our results manifest that by cancellation of direct inductive coupling and indirect spin-wave couple of flux qubits we can turn on and off the net coupling between qubits. This bring magnonic YIG thin film into the field of quantum information processing.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.107.012434

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Quantum computing and simulation based on superconducting qubits have achieved significant progress and entered the noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) era recently. Using a third qubit or object as a tunable coupler between qubits is an important step in this process. In this article, we propose a hybrid system made of superconducting qubit and a yttrium iron garnet (YIG) system as an alternative way to realize this. YIG thin films have spin wave (magnon) modes with low dissipation and reliable control for quantum information processing. Here, we propose a scheme to achieve strong coherent coupling between superconducting (SC) flux qubits and magnon modes in YIG thin film. Unlike the direct N\sqrt{N}N​ enhancement factor in coupling to the Kittel mode and other spin ensembles, with NNN the total number of spins, an additional spatial-dependent phase factor needs to be considered when the qubits are magnetically coupled with the magnon modes of finite wavelength. To avoid undesirable cancellation of coupling caused by the symmetrical boundary condition, a CoFeB thin layer is added to one side of the YIG thin film to break the symmetry. Our numerical simulation demonstrates avoided crossing and coherent transfer of quantum information between the flux qubit and the standing spin waves in YIG thin films. We show that the YIG thin film can be used as a tunable coupler between two flux qubits, which have a modified shape with small direct inductive coupling between them. Our results manifest that by cancellation of direct inductive coupling and indirect spin-wave couple of flux qubits we can turn on and off the net coupling between qubits. This bring magnonic YIG thin film into the field of quantum information processing.
Quantum computing hardware has received world-wide attention and made considerable progress recently. YIG thin film have spin wave (magnon) modes with low dissipation and reliable control for quantum information processing. However, the coherent coupling between a quantum device and YIG thin film has yet been demonstrated. Here, we propose a scheme to achieve strong coupling between superconducting flux qubits and magnon modes in YIG thin film. Unlike the direct N\sqrt{N}N​ enhancement factor in coupling to the Kittel mode or other spin ensembles, with N the total number of spins, an additional spatial dependent phase factor needs to be considered when the qubits are magnetically coupled with the magnon modes of finite wavelength. To avoid undesirable cancelation of coupling caused by the symmetrical boundary condition, a CoFeB thin layer is added to one side of the YIG thin film to break the symmetry. Our numerical simulation demonstrates avoided crossing and coherent transfer of quantum information between the flux qubits and the standing spin waves in YIG thin films. We show that the YIG thin film can be used as a tunable switch between two flux qubits, which have modified shape with small direct inductive coupling between them. Our results manifest that it is possible to couple flux qubits while suppressing undesirable cross-talk.
We propose a scheme for achieving magnon antibunching in a hybrid ferromagnet–superconductor system, where the magnons excited in two yttrium iron garnet (YIG) spheres couple the different levels of a cyclic three-level superconducting qubit by eliminating two perpendicular microwave cavity modes. With the aid of the three-level system, we find that the magnon antibunching can be achieved in a weak coupling regime via the degenerate three-wave mixing process. Moreover, it is found that the magnon antibunching inside a YIG2 sphere can be effectively regulated by manipulating the YIG1 sphere, for instance, the coupling strength of the YIG1 sphere and qubit and the driving strengths of the system. This work provides an alternative scheme for constructing the single magnon source based on the ferromagnet–superconductor technology and is conducive to studying the quantum properties of magnons.
We study the generation of a magnon blockade in a single-crystalline yttrium-iron-garnet (YIG) sphere coupled to a three-dimensional superconducting microwave resonator that interacts with a superconducting qubit. Based on the indirect coupling between the Kittel mode of YIG and the superconducting qubit mediated by the virtual photon excitation in the microwave cavity, we propose two different mechanisms for observing the magnon blockade effect in the ferromagnetic sphere. The first one is to use the strong anharmonicity of the dressed states of the coupled qubit-magnon system. However, the strong magnon antibunching can only be achieved under the strong-coupling regime. To relax this constraint, we propose another quantum interference method to produce and enhance the magnon blockade effect with the moderate-coupling strength. By optimizing the relative phase and the strength ratio of the external driving fields applied to the YIG and qubit, we show that the much stronger magnon antibunching with significantly increased steady-state mean magnon numbers can be realized by the destructive interference for the two-magnon excitation.
As the field of superconducting quantum technology progresses beyond single-qubit control, scalable and multifunctional quantum architectures become increasingly vital. A central challenge is integrating fast, controllable superconducting circuits with components that offer longer coherence, richer physics, or new functionalities. Hybrid quantum systems, where superconducting microwave resonators interface with semiconducting or magnetic subsystems, have the capabilities to fulfil this need, yet they face significant engineering obstacles. Conventional superconducting resonator designs struggle under magnetic field biasing and electrostatic gating, both of which are essential for coupling to spin-based, semiconductor, or magnonic elements.This thesis explores solutions to these bottlenecks through the development of magnetic-field-resilient coplanar stripline (CPS) resonators based on thin-film NbTiN. These resonators retain a stable resonance frequency in in-plane magnetic fields up to 1T, can have high kinetic inductance and offer broad geometrical tunability, enabling strong and ultrastrong coupling to charge- and spin-based quantum systems. In the superconducting–semiconductor domain, we demonstrate high-impedance CPS resonators inductively coupled to Josephson junctions hosting Andreev bound states (ABSs), revealing both coherent pair transitions and single-quasiparticle excitations near the ultrastrong coupling regime. This opens the door to fast, gate-tunable qubits based on microscopic ABSs, distinct from conventional macroscopic qubit architectures, and lays the groundwork for spin–photon hybridisation, non-perturbative light–matter interactions, and parity-based quantum logic.In parallel, this work investigates rare-earth iron garnet (ReIG) ferrimagnetic insulators as low-loss spin-wave media compatible with superconducting devices. In sputtered thin-film thulium iron garnet (TmIG) with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy, we observe deterministic spin-orbit torque switching and multiple magnetisation polarity reversals. These properties showcase the attractiveness of TmIG both for low-dissipation magnonic information transport and as magnetic interfaces for superconducting hybrid devices. Taken together, the results of this thesis establish materials, device concepts, and measurement strategies for novel classes of hybrid quantum systems that combine robust superconducting circuitry, electrostatically tunable semiconductor excitations, and industry-scalable magnetic elements and pave the way for next-generation hybrid quantum systems. More broadly, they provide concrete routes to overcoming limitations of existing hybrid platforms and advance the development of versatile, low-dissipation quantum technologies.
We study the hybrid system of a high-quality yttrium-iron-garnet (YIG) sphere magnetically coupled to a superconducting flux qubit via the magnetic fields created by two persistent-current quantum states. When the flux qubit is operated away from its sweet point, a coherent nonlinear two-magnon interaction can be predicted; that is, the qubit is excited by absorbing a pair of magnons. We show that the spontaneous emission of the qubit can be exploited to steer the magnon mode of the YIG sphere into a Schr\"odinger cat state with high fidelity. Our scheme has practical advantages in that it eliminates the need for precise control of the evolution time and the projective measurement, and is also insensitive to the qubit's pure dephasing.
We propose a protocol for generating magnonic squeezed states (MSS) and their superpositions (SMSS) in a hybrid system comprising a superconducting flux qubit magnetically coupled to the Kittel mode of a yttrium iron garnet (YIG) sphere. The flux qubit provides an intrinsic longitudinal interaction with the magnon mode, which, under resonant microwave driving, gives rise to an effective qubit-state-dependent squeezing Hamiltonian. Numerical simulations incorporating realistic dissipation demonstrate that magnon quadrature noise reduction exceeding 8 dB8~\mathrm{dB}8 dB is achievable with experimentally accessible parameters.~By preparing the qubit in a superposition state followed by projective measurement, we further obtain symmetric and antisymmetric superpositions of orthogonally squeezed magnon states exhibiting clear phase-space interference fringes.~We discuss how the fourfold rotational symmetry of these states supports a bosonic logical encoding with potential for protecting against dominant error channels in magnonic platforms.