Optimally detuned parametric amplification amplifies a signal in a resonator that is driven off-resonance, with respect to a signal mode, using a far-detuned pump. This pump establishes a parametric drive strength, and is "far-detuned" in that its detuning from the signal mode is greater than the drive strength. The amplitude and frequency of the pump are chosen so that the eigenfrequency of the resulting Bogoliobov mode matches a photonic loss rate of the Bogoliobov mode. In this case, a signal coupled into the Bogoliobov mode will be amplified with a gain that is broader and flatter than that achieved with conventional parametric amplification, and is not limited by a gain-bandwidth product. Optimally detuned parametric amplification may be used for degenerate or non-degenerate parametric amplification, and may be used to amplify microwaves, light, electronic signals, acoustic waves, or any other type of signal that can be amplified using conventional parametric amplification.
Optimally detuned parametric amplification amplifies a signal in a resonator that is driven off-resonance, with respect to a signal mode, using a far-detuned pump. This pump establishes a parametric drive strength, and is "far-detuned" in that its detuning from the signal mode is greater than the drive strength. The amplitude and frequency of the pump are chosen so that the eigenfrequency of the resulting Bogoliobov mode matches a photonic loss rate of the Bogoliobov mode. In this case, a signal coupled into the Bogoliobov mode will be amplified with a gain that is broader and flatter than that achieved with conventional parametric amplification, and is not limited by a gain-bandwidth product. Optimally detuned parametric amplification may be used for degenerate or non-degenerate parametric amplification, and may be used to amplify microwaves, light, electronic signals, acoustic waves, or any other type of signal that can be amplified using conventional parametric amplification.
Optimally detuned parametric amplification amplifies a signal in a resonator that is driven off-resonance, with respect to a signal mode, using a far-detuned pump. This pump establishes a parametric drive strength, and is "far-detuned" in that its detuning from the signal mode is greater than the drive strength. The amplitude and frequency of the pump are chosen so that the eigenfrequency of the resulting Bogoliobov mode matches a photonic loss rate of the Bogoliobov mode. In this case, a signal coupled into the Bogoliobov mode will be amplified with a gain that is broader and flatter than that achieved with conventional parametric amplification, and is not limited by a gain-bandwidth product. Optimally detuned parametric amplification may be used for degenerate or non-degenerate parametric amplification, and may be used to amplify microwaves, light, electronic signals, acoustic waves, or any other type of signal that can be amplified using conventional parametric amplification.
A quantum-statistical treatment of degenerate (single-mode) parametric amplification is given in which the pump is allowed to have time-dependent amplitude and phase. This relaxes earlier restrictions of a constant pump in exact resonance with the signal. Solutions are obtained for the case where the ratio of the time derivative of the pump phase to the coupling strength between pump and signal is constant. This includes the special case of simple offresonance, where the pump has a constant frequency differing from twice the signal frequency by a given amount (and has constant amplitude). The Wigner distribution for the signal mode is obtained (the P distribution does not in general exist as a well-defined function beyond a finite time interval for this process) and is used to determine the time development of the expectation values of various field operators of interest, such as field strengths and fluctuations. A critical point exists in the solution for the photon annihilation operator such that the behavior of the solution and the resulting quantities which it determines is divided into an exponential region and an oscillatory region. The critical point defines, from the expectation value for the photon number, the condition for amplification. For the case of simple off-resonance, this gives the frequency range of amplification. A calculation without using the rotating-wave approximation is given in the Appendix which shows that, to first order, the same range is obtained as when the approximation is used. The effect of damping is given, showing, e.g., how it slows the growth rate of the signal (in the region of amplification) and how it narrows the frequency range of amplification. The effect of a time-dependent pump (and damping) on the breakdown of the P distribution is also described.
This version develops a preregisterable and falsifiable experimental framework for investi-gating parametric optical amplification of weak biomedical signals.The framework explicitly distinguishes spontaneous parametric down-conversion fromseeded parametric amplification and treats the latter as the primary amplification mechanism.The signal path is modeled asweak optical input → parametric amplifier → loss/filtering → detector → statistical inference.The theoretical model is based on a two-mode Bogoliubov transformation,aˆs,out = uaˆs,in + vaˆ†i,in,with|u|2 − |v|2 = 1for the ideal lossless case.The framework separately models amplifier gain, quantum noise, optical loss, detectorinefficiency, electronic noise, pump noise, phase noise, mode mismatch, gain saturation, andpump depletion.Two operating modes are considered:1. phase-insensitive amplification, in which both quadratures are amplified and unavoidablequantum noise is introduced;2. phase-sensitive amplification, in which one selected quadrature can be amplified withlower added noise under appropriate phase matching.The primary endpoint is a prespecified detector-level signal-to-noise metric comparing theparametric amplifier with a gain-matched reference architecture.Secondary endpoints include the measured noise figure, effective gain, detection threshold,and downstream classification performance.The v3.1 framework introduces preregistered performance thresholds, a locked test set,independent calibration, blocked randomization, blinded analysis where feasible, hierarchical. statistical models, uncertainty propagation, multiplicity control, negative-control experiments,saturation diagnostics, and explicit falsification criteria.The proposal does not claim a universal amplification advantage, quantum supremacy, orclinical diagnostic capability.
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.
One of the primary requirements for superconducting quantum information processors is high-fidelity, quantum non-demolition qubit readout. In superconducting circuits, we perform measurements with quantum-limited microwave amplifiers. These amplifiers are based on microwave cavities and powered by Josephson-junction based nonlinearities, which we drive to parametrically modulate the circuit and generate gain. However, cavity-based amplifiers generally suffer from a fixed gain-bandwidth product, a limited dynamic range, and the absence of directionality, and so they must be operated with external lossy microwave commercial components such as circulators. Many of these limitations can be circumvented by combining multiple parametric processes in a few-mode device, in particular by combining parametric drives which produce gain and those which produce gainless photon conversion. By combining balanced gain and conversion processes between a pair of modes, we have demonstrated transmission-only, phase-sensitive, gain-bandwidth-free amplification. We have also used measurements of transmon qubits with this mode of amplification to demonstrate its practical utility. More, by combining multiple instances of imbalanced gain and conversion processes among three modes, we have realized devices with non-reciprocal, transmission-only amplification, matched ports, and a large, gain-independent bandwidth. One of the biggest challenges in tuning multiple parametric processes is both inherent and dynamically-generated higher order nonlinearities in the device, which shift mode frequencies and parametric coupling strengths with pump power, preventing accurate balancing of the parametric processes. These can be controlled through engineering the Hamiltonian of the nonlinear element, in this thesis either a linearly-shunted Josephson Ring Modulator or SNAIL (Superconducting Nonlinear Asymmetric Inductive eLements), which for certain applied flux values can minimize or even change the sign of higher-order even nonlinearities. Additionally, we have explored a range of circuit parameters, allowing us to also control the relative size of odd-order nonlinearities. We have developed a series of prototypes which implement these concepts, and have achieved both high-dynamic range singly pumped amplifiers, and a promising platform for multi-parametric devices. We conclude by presenting recent progress towards implementing multiple parametric schemes that generates a practical directional amplifier, and discuss the remaining obstacles to a truly ideal parametric amplifiers.
We introduce an implementation of a non-degenerate parametric amplifier in which the signal and idler modes, respectively, a microwave mode and an ensemble of spins (e.g., nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond), are operated in their linear regime. This paramp, which amplifies signals in both parts at room and cryogenic temperatures, can be used to generate both the two-mode and single-mode squeezing of either system. It requires merely modulating the frequency of the spin ensemble at the sum of the cavity and spin frequencies (providing the classical pump) with the two systems sufficiently detuned. This effect is remarkable given that modulating a spin ensemble by itself produces neither amplification nor squeezing, unlike modulating an oscillator, and that an off-resonant perturbative analysis would suggest that modulating the spin ensemble merely parametrically drives the cavity mode. With typical cavity parameters including a cavity quality factor~Q=104, and a 1 GHz modulation amplitude, the microwave signal can be amplified by approximately $18~\mbox{dB}$ in $1.7~\mbox{$μ$s}$, with a resonant bandwidth of about $0.5~\mbox{MHz}$. At $10~\mbox{mK}$ with the same modulation amplitude and a cavity and spin Q=5×104 it generates approximately $5~\mbox{dB}$ of squeezing. We also examine the experimental requirements for implementation.