Dephasing of a superconducting flux qubit

In order to gain a better understanding of the origin of decoherence in superconducting flux qubits, we have measured the magnetic field dependence of the characteristic energy relaxation time (T(1)) and echo phase relaxation time (T(2)(echo)) near the optimal operating point of a flux qubit. We have measured T(2)(echo) by means of the phase cycling method. At the optimal point, we found the relation T(2)(echo) approximately 2T(1). This means that the echo decay time is limited by the energy relaxation (T(1) process). Moving away from the optimal point, we observe a linear increase of the phase relaxation rate (1/T(2)(echo)) with the applied external magnetic flux. This behavior can be well explained by the influence of magnetic flux noise with a 1/f spectrum on the qubit.     

Parametric control of a superconducting flux qubit

Parametric control of a superconducting flux qubit has been achieved by using two-frequency microwave pulses. We have observed Rabi oscillations stemming from parametric transitions between the qubit states when the sum of the two microwave frequencies or the difference between them matches the qubit Larmor frequency. We have also observed multiphoton Rabi oscillations corresponding to one- to four-photon resonances by applying single-frequency microwave pulses. The parametric control demonstrated in this work widens the frequency range of microwaves for controlling the qubit and offers a high quality testing ground for exploring nonlinear quantum phenomena of macroscopically distinct states.     

Nondestructive readout for a superconducting flux qubit

We present a new readout method for a superconducting flux qubit, based on the measurement of the Josephson inductance of a superconducting quantum interference device that is inductively coupled to the qubit. The intrinsic flux detection efficiency and backaction are suitable for a fast and nondestructive determination of the quantum state of the qubit, as needed for readout of multiple qubits in a quantum computer. We performed spectroscopy of a flux qubit and we measured relaxation times of the order of 80 micros.     

The initial decoherence of the mesoscopic Josephson junction flux qubit

For a mesoscopic radio frequency superconducting quantum interference device (rfSQUID), at a degeneracy point, the system reduces to a quantum two-state system which can be used as a flux qubit. When the noise environment is equivalent to a harmonic oscillators bath, by virtue of an operator-norm measure for the short time decoherence, this paper investigates the initial decoherence of the flux qubit operating in the ohmic noise environment and illustrates its property by means of the numerical evaluation.     

Intrinsic and mutual inductance of apertures in parallel superconducting films

Analytic expressions are derived to calculate the inductance of apertures in parallel superconducting films using the current distribution along the edge of the aperture in the film. The relations obtained show good agreement with the experimental results and can be used to model rf squids. Zh. Tekh. Fiz. 68, 75–79 (December 1998)     

Controllable coupling of superconducting flux qubits

We have realized controllable coupling between two three-junction flux qubits by inserting an additional coupler loop between them, containing three Josephson junctions. Two of these are shared with the qubit loops, providing strong qubit-coupler interaction. The third junction gives the coupler a nontrivial current-flux relation; its derivative (i.e., the susceptibility) determines the coupling strength J, which thus is tunable in situ via the coupler's flux bias. In the qubit regime, J was varied from approximately 45 (antiferromagnetic) to approximately -55 mK (ferromagnetic); in particular, J vanishes for an intermediate coupler bias. Measurements on a second sample illuminate the relation between two-qubit tunable coupling and three-qubit behavior.     

Readout of superconducting flux qubit state with a Cooper pair box

We study a readout scheme of a superconducting flux qubit state with a Cooper pair box as a transmon. The qubit states consist of the superpositions of two degenerate states where the charge and phase degrees of freedom are entangled. Owing to the robustness of the transmon against external fluctuations, our readout scheme enables the quantum non-demolition and single-shot measurement of flux qubit states. The qubit state readout can be performed by using the nonlinear Josephson amplifiers after a π/2 rotation driven by an ac electric field.     

Measurement of the superconducting flux qubit parameters in the quasi-dispersive regime

This paper reports on the results of the investigation of a superconducting flux quantum bit (qubit) in the quasi-dispersive regime, where the frequency of a probe signal even though is lower than, but, nevertheless, close to the excitation frequency of the qubit. In this regime, in contrast to the known experiments, the interaction of the qubit with a waveguide leads not only to a shift of the resonance frequency, which is characteristic of the dispersive regime, but also to a significant broadening of the resonance line due to the spontaneous emission of the qubit. On the basis of the analysis of the amplitude–frequency characteristic of the transmission signal, this makes it possible to determine, under single-frequency excitation, the characteristic parameters of the qubit inductively coupled to the coplanar resonator.     

Strong tunable coupling between a superconducting charge and phase qubit

We have realized a tunable coupling over a large frequency range between an asymmetric Cooper pair transistor (charge qubit) and a dc SQUID (phase qubit). Our circuit enables the independent manipulation of the quantum states of each qubit as well as their entanglement. The measurement of the charge qubit's quantum states is performed by an adiabatic quantum transfer from the charge to the phase qubit. The measured coupling strength is in agreement with an analytic theory including a capacitive and a tunable Josephson coupling between the two qubits.     

High-contrast dispersive readout of a superconducting flux qubit using a nonlinear resonator

We demonstrate high-contrast state detection of a superconducting flux qubit. Detection is realized by probing the microwave transmission of a nonlinear resonator, based on a SQUID. Depending on the driving strength of the resonator, the detector can be operated in the monostable or the bistable mode. The bistable operation combines high-sensitivity with intrinsic latching. The measured contrast of Rabi oscillations is as high as 87%; of the missing 13%, only 3% of the loss of contrast is unaccounted for. Experiments involving two consecutive detection pulses are consistent with preparation of the qubit state by the first measurement.     

Effect of the time-dependent coupling on a superconducting qubit-field system under decoherence: Entanglement and Wehrl entropy

The dynamics of a superconducting (SC) qubit interacting with a field under decoherence with and without time-dependent coupling effect is analyzed. Quantum features like the collapse–revivals for the dynamics of population inversion, sudden birth and sudden death of entanglement, and statistical properties are investigated under the phase damping effect. Analytic results for certain parametric conditions are obtained. We analyze the influence of decoherence on the negativity and Wehrl entropy for different values of the physical parameters. We also explore an interesting relation between the SC-field entanglement and Wehrl entropy behavior during the time evolution. We show that the amount of SC-field entanglement can be enhanced as the field tends to be more classical. The studied model of SC-field system with the time-dependent coupling has high practical importance due to their experimental accessibility which may open new perspectives in different tasks of quantum formation processing.     

Creating nitrogen-vacancy ensembles in diamond for coupling with flux qubit

Hybrid quantum system of negatively charged nitrogen–vacancy(NV~-) centers in diamond and superconducting qubits provide the possibility to extend the performances of both systems. In this work, we numerically simulate the coupling strength between NV~-ensembles and superconducting flux qubits and obtain a lower bound of 1016cm~(-3) for NV~-concentration to achieve a sufficiently strong coupling of 10 MHz when the gap between NV~-ensemble and flux qubit is 0. Moreover, we create NV~-ensembles in different types of diamonds by14~(N+)and12(C+)ion implantation, electron irradiation, and high temperature annealing. We obtain an NV~-concentration of 1.05 × 1016cm~(-3) in the diamond with1-ppm nitrogen impurity, which is expected to have a long coherence time for the low nitrogen impurity concentration. This shows a step toward performance improvement of flux qubit-NV~-hybrid system.     

超导薄膜磁场穿透深度的双线圈互感测量

磁场穿透深度是联系超导体宏观电动力学与微观机制的重要物理量,其精确测量对于研究超导机理以及探索超导应用具有重要意义.在众多的磁场穿透深度测量方法中,双线圈互感法具有测量精度高、技术相对成熟、对样品没有破坏等优点,可被用于细致地研究超导薄膜的磁场穿透深度对温度、掺杂、外延应力等参量的依赖关系.本文首先简要介绍了双线圈互感法的基本原理,指出该方法的测量精度主要受系统几何参数及薄膜边缘漏磁的影响;之后对自主设计搭建的透射型双线圈互感装置进行了系统的校验,并详细说明了其测量精度:对于厚度为100 nm,穿透深度为150 nm的典型薄膜样品,穿透深度绝对值的测量误差小于10%;最后通过测量NbN超导薄膜的磁场穿透深度进一步检验了装置的精度,分析表明穿透深度的测量值与文献报道结果符合.     

Effects of intrinsic decoherence on various correlations and quantum dense coding in a two superconducting charge qubit system

The influence of intrinsic decoherence on various correlations and dense coding in a model which consists of two identical superconducting charge qubits coupled by a fixed capacitor is investigated. The results show that, despite the intrinsic decoherence, the correlations as well as the dense coding channel capacity can be effectively increased via the combination of system parameters, i.e., the mutual coupling energy between the two charge qubits is larger than the Josephson energy of the qubit. The bigger the difference between them is, the better the effect is.     

Optimal dynamical decoherence control of a qubit

We present a theory of dynamical control by modulation for optimal decoherence reduction. The theory is based on the non-Markovian Euler-Lagrange equation for the energy-constrained field that minimizes the average dephasing rate of a qubit for any given dephasing spectrum.     

Dynamic decoherence control of a solid-state nuclear-quadrupole qubit

We report on the application of a dynamic decoherence control pulse sequence on a nuclear-quadrupole transition in Pr3+:Y(2)SiO(5). Process tomography is used to analyze the effect of the pulse sequence. The pulse sequence was found to increase the decoherence time of the transition to over 30 seconds. Although the decoherence time was significantly increased, the population terms were found to rapidly decay on the application of the pulse sequence. The increase of this decay rate is attributed to inhomogeneity in the ensemble. Methods to circumvent this limit are discussed.     

Double SQUID tunable flux qubit manipulated by fast pulses: operation requirements, dissipation and decoherence

A double SQUID manipulated by fast magnetic flux pulses can be used as a tunable flux qubit. In this paper we study the requirements for the qubit operation and evaluate the dissipation and decoherence due to the manipulation, with particular attention to the contribution related to the applied tuning control, not present in simpler flux qubits. Furthermore, we shortly discuss the possibility to use an integrated Rapid Single Flux Quantum logic for the qubit control.     

量子环中量子比特的消相干时间

在量子环中电子与体纵光学声子强耦合的情况下,通过求解能量本征方程,得出了电子的基态和第一激发态的本征能量及其波函数,进而以电子-声子体系的基态与第一激发态构造一个量子比特.结果讨论了消相干时间与耦合强度,色散系数以及量子环内径、外径的变化关系.     

Observation of flux qubit states with the help of a superconducting differential double contour interferometer

The critical current of a new structure, the superconducting differential double contour interferometer (DDCI), investigated recently, depends on the parity of the sum of quantum numbers of the two superconducting loops connected in two points by two Josephson junctions. The theory confirms that the DDCI structure can be used for the ideal readout of quantum states of the flux qubit. Large jumps in the critical current and voltage enables to observe continuously the change in time the state of the flux qubit. Such observations can have fundamental importance for the investigation of macroscopic quantum systems with strongly discrete spectrum such as the flux qubit. The DDCI structure can also be used for precise measurement of a very weak magnetic field.     

Non-Gaussian low-frequency noise as a source of qubit decoherence

We study decoherence in a qubit with the distance between the two levels affected by random flips of bistable fluctuators. For the case of a single fluctuator we evaluate explicitly an exact expression for the phase-memory decay in the echo experiment with a resonant ac excitation. The echo signal as a function of time shows a sequence of plateaus. The position and the height of the plateaus can be used to extract the fluctuator switching rate gamma and its coupling strength v. At small times the logarithm of the echo signal is proportional to t3. The plateaus disappear when the decoherence is induced by many fluctuators. In this case the echo signal depends on the distribution of the fluctuators parameters. According to our analysis, the results significantly deviate from those obtained in the Gaussian model as soon as v greater than or approximately equal gamma.