Fabrication and characterization of ultra-low noise narrow and wide band Josephson parametric amplifiers

We have fabricated two types of lumped-element Josephson parameter amplifiers (JPAs) by using a multilayer micro-fabrication process involving wet etching of Al films. The first type is a narrow band JPA which shows typical gain above 14 dB in a bandwidth around 35 MHz. The second type is a wideband JPA which is coupled to an input 50 Ω transmission line via an impedance transformer that changes the impedance from about 15 Ω on the non-linear resonator side to 50 Ω on the input transmission line side. The wideband JPA could operate in a 200 MHz range with a gain higher than 14 dB. The amplifiers were used for superconducting qubit readout. The results showed that the signal to noise ratio and hence the readout fidelity were improved significantly.     

Modulation of energy spectrum and control of coherent microwave transmission at single-photon level by longitudinal field in a superconducting quantum circuit

We study the effect of longitudinally applied field modulation on a two-level system using superconducting quantum circuits. The presence of the modulation results in additional transitions and changes the magnitude of the resonance peak in the energy spectrum of the qubit. In particular, when the amplitude λ_z and the frequency ω_l of the modulation field meet certain conditions, the resonance peak of the qubit disappears. Using this effect, we further demonstrate that the longitudinal field modulation of the Xmon qubit coupled to a one-dimensional transmission line could be used to dynamically control the transmission of single-photon level coherent resonance microwave.     

D相AlCuCo准晶各向异性热电势的测量

采用激光交流加热的方法测量了D相AlCuCo准晶周期与准周期两个方向的热电势,温度测量区间为300—1200 K.通过测量发现沿周期方向的热电势符号为负,沿准周期方向的热电势符号为正;沿周期方向在1123 K（850 ℃）热电势有一个跳变;在高温区,热电势并不是单调变化的;实验所用方法能比较灵敏地测量材料相变时的温度点. 关键词： AlCuCo准晶 高温 热电势 交流测量法     

Fabrication of Josephson parameter amplifier and its applicationin squeezing vacuum fluctuations

Josephson parameter amplifier (JPA) is a microwave signal amplifier device with near-quantum-limit-noise performance. It has important applications in scientific research fields such as quantum computing and dark matter detection. This work reports the fabrication and characterization of broadband JPA devices and their applications in multi-qubit readout and squeezing of vacuum state. We use a process in which transmission lines and electrodes are made of niobium thin film and aluminum Josephson junctions are made by Dolan bridge technique. We believe this process is more convenient than the process we used previously. The whole production process adopts electron beam lithography technology to ensure high structural resolution. The test result shows that the gain value of the manufactured JPA can exceed 15 dB, and the amplification bandwidth is about 400 MHz. The noise temperature is about 400 mK at the working frequency of 6.2 GHz. The devices have been successfully used in experiments involving superconducting multi-qubit quantum processors. Furthermore, the device is applied to squeeze vacuum fluctuations and a squeezing level of 1.635 dB is achieved.     

Study on signal intensity of low field nuclear magnetic resonance via an indirect coupling measurement

We carry out an ultra-low-field nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) experiment based on high-T c superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs). The measurement field is in a micro-tesla range (～10 μT-100 μT) and the experiment is conducted in a home-made magnetically-shielded-room (MSR). The measurements are performed by the indirect coupling method in which the signal of nuclei precession is indirectly coupled to the SQUID through a tuned copper coil transformer. In such an arrangement, the interferences of applied measurement and polarization field to the SQUID sensor are avoided and the performance of the SQUID is not destroyed. In order to compare the detection sensitivity obtained by using the SQUID with that achieved using a conventional low-noise-amplifier, we perform the measurements using a commercial room temperature amplifier. The results show that in a wide frequency range (～1 kHz-10 kHz) the measurements with the SQUID sensor exhibit a higher signal-to-noise ratio. Further, we discuss the dependence of NMR peak magnitude on measurement frequency. We attribute the reduction of the peak magnitude at high frequency to the increased field inhomogeneity as the measurement field increases. This is verified by compensating the field gradient using three sets of gradient coils.     

基于高温超导量子干涉仪的超低场核磁共振成像研究

对基于高温超导量子干涉仪的低场核磁共振成像进行了较为系统的探索.首先对低场核磁共振系统进行了改进和完善,使得装置能够用于成像实验.在此基础上进行了一维、二维成像实验并取得了成功.二维成像分别采用了直接背投影成像法和傅里叶变换重建法.采用直接背投影方法成功获得了不同水样品分布的图形并与实物符合较好,同时还尝试对生物样品如青椒和芹菜的切片进行了成像,也得到了符合原物的二维投影像.尝试用傅里叶变换法对水样品进行成像,得到的图形能够显示样品轮廓,但信噪比偏低.对两种二维成像方法进行了比较和讨论.     

Fabrication of superconducting Nb N meander nanowires by nano-imprint lithography

Superconducting nanowire single photon detector(SNSPD), as a new type of superconducting single photon detector(SPD), has a broad application prospect in quantum communication and other fields. In order to prepare SNSPD with high performance, it is necessary to fabricate a large area of uniform meander nanowires, which is the core of the SNSPD. In this paper, we demonstrate a process of patterning ultra-thin Nb N films into meander-type nanowires by using the nanoimprint technology. In this process, a combination of hot embossing nano-imprint lithography(HE-NIL) and ultraviolet nano-imprint lithography(UV-NIL) is used to transfer the meander nanowire structure from the NIL Si hard mold to the Nb N film. We have successfully obtained a Nb N nanowire device with uniform line width. The critical temperature(Tc) of the superconducting Nb N meander nanowires is about 5 K and the critical current(Ic) is about 3.5 μA at 2.5 K.     

Hardware for multi-superconducting qubit control and readout

We have developed an electronic hardware system for the control and readout of multi-superconducting qubit devices. The hardware system is based on the design ideas of good scalability, high synchronization and low latency. The system, housed inside a VPX-6U chassis, includes multiple arbitrary-waveform generator (AWG) channels, analog-digital-converter (ADC) channels as well as direct current source channels. The system can be used for the control and readout of up to twelve superconducting transmon qubits in one chassis, and control and readout of more and more qubit can be carried out by interconnecting the chassis. By using field programmable gate array (FPGA) processors, the system incorporates three features that are specifically useful for superconducting qubit research. Firstly, qubit signals can be processed using the on-board FPGA after being acquired by ADCs, significantly reducing data processing time and data amount for storage and transmission. Secondly, different output modes, such as direct output and sequential output modes, of AWG can be implemented with pre-encoded FPGA. Thirdly, with data acquisition ADCs and control AWGs jointly controlled by the same FPGA, the feedback latency can be reduced, and in our test a 178.4 ns latency time is realized. This is very useful for future quantum feedback experiments. Finally, we demonstrate the functionality of the system by applying the system to the control and readout of a 10 qubit superconducting quantum processor.     

Fabrication and properties of the meander nanowires based on ultra-thin Nb films

We report the fabrication and the study of superconducting properties of ultra-thin Nb superconducting meander nanowires, which can be used as superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors （SNSPDs）. The ultra-thin （about 7- nm thick） Nb films are patterned into micro-bridges, and 100-nm wide meander nanowires by using e-beam lithography （EBL）. The average transition temperature （Tc） of the nanowires is about 4.8 K and the critical current density jc is about 2.8 × 10^6 A/cm2. Superconducting characteristics of the specimens at different applied magnetic fields up to 8 T （parallel or perpendicular to the specimen） are systematically investigated. The normalized temperature t （= T/Tc） dependences of the parallel critical field （HcⅡ） for both the micro-bridge and the meander nanowire are almost the same, following the Ginzburg and Landau （GL） formalism for ultra-thin films. However, in perpendicular field and in the vicinity of Tc （〉 0.95Tc）, the critical field Hc⊥ of the nanowire exhibits a down-turn curvature nonlinear temperature dependence while the micro-bridge displays a linear temperature dependence. The nonlinear behavior of Hc⊥ in the nanowire is believed to be due to the fact that in the vicinity of Tc the coherence length becomes larger than the line width. Additionally, the localization of carriers in the nanowire could also contribute to the nonlinear behavior. The resistive transitions could be described by the phase-slip model for quasi-one-dimensional system. Moreover, the hysteresis in I-V curve of the meander nanowires can be illustrated by a simple model of localized normal hotspot maintained by Joule heating.     

Cavity-induced ATS effect on a superconducting Xmon qubit

We couple a ladder-type three-level superconducting artificial atom to a cavity. Adjusting the artificial atom to make the cavity be resonant with the two upper levels, we then probe the lower two levels of the artificial atom. When driving the cavity to a coherent state, the probe spectrum shows energy level splitting induced by the quantized electromagnetic field in the cavity. This splitting size is related to the coupling strength between the cavity and the artificial atom and, thus, is fixed after the sample is fabricated. This is in contrast to the classical Autler–Townes splitting of a three-level system in which the splitting is proportional to the driving amplitude, which can be continuously changed. Our experiment results show the difference between the classical microwave driving field and the quantum field of the cavity.