Nanowire Superinductance Fluxonium Qubit.

We characterize a fluxonium qubit consisting of a Josephson junction inductively shunted with a NbTiN nanowire superinductance. We explain the measured energy spectrum by means of a multimode theory accounting for the distributed nature of the superinductance and the effect of the circuit nonlinearity to all orders in the Josephson potential. Using multiphoton Raman spectroscopy, we address multiple fluxonium transitions, observe multilevel Autler-Townes splitting and measure an excited state lifetime of T_{1}=20 µs. By measuring T_{1} at different magnetic flux values, we find a crossover in the lifetime limiting mechanism from capacitive to inductive losses.

Circuit quantum electrodynamics with a spin qubit.

Electron spins trapped in quantum dots have been proposed as basic building blocks of a future quantum processor. Although fast, 180-picosecond, two-quantum-bit (two-qubit) operations can be realized using nearest-neighbour exchange coupling, a scalable, spin-based quantum computing architecture will almost certainly require long-range qubit interactions. Circuit quantum electrodynamics (cQED) allows spatially separated superconducting qubits to interact via a superconducting microwave cavity that acts as a 'quantum bus', making possible two-qubit entanglement and the implementation of simple quantum algorithms. Here we combine the cQED architecture with spin qubits by coupling an indium arsenide nanowire double quantum dot to a superconducting cavity. The architecture allows us to achieve a charge-cavity coupling rate of about 30 megahertz, consistent with coupling rates obtained in gallium arsenide quantum dots. Furthermore, the strong spin-orbit interaction of indium arsenide allows us to drive spin rotations electrically with a local gate electrode, and the charge-cavity interaction provides a measurement of the resulting spin dynamics. Our results demonstrate how the cQED architecture can be used as a sensitive probe of single-spin physics and that a spin-cavity coupling rate of about one megahertz is feasible, presenting the possibility of long-range spin coupling via superconducting microwave cavities.

Cavity-mediated entanglement generation via Landau-Zener interferometry.

We demonstrate quantum control and entanglement generation using a Landau-Zener beam splitter formed by coupling two transmon qubits to a superconducting cavity. Single passage through the cavity-mediated qubit-qubit avoided crossing provides a direct test of the Landau-Zener transition formula. Consecutive sweeps result in Landau-Zener-Stückelberg interference patterns, with a visibility that can be sensitively tuned by adjusting the level velocity through both the nonadiabatic and adiabatic regimes. Two-qubit state tomography indicates that a Bell state can be generated via a single passage, with a fidelity of 78% limited by qubit relaxation.

Coupling superconducting qubits via a cavity bus.

Superconducting circuits are promising candidates for constructing quantum bits (qubits) in a quantum computer; single-qubit operations are now routine, and several examples of two-qubit interactions and gates have been demonstrated. These experiments show that two nearby qubits can be readily coupled with local interactions. Performing gate operations between an arbitrary pair of distant qubits is highly desirable for any quantum computer architecture, but has not yet been demonstrated. An efficient way to achieve this goal is to couple the qubits to a 'quantum bus', which distributes quantum information among the qubits. Here we show the implementation of such a quantum bus, using microwave photons confined in a transmission line cavity, to couple two superconducting qubits on opposite sides of a chip. The interaction is mediated by the exchange of virtual rather than real photons, avoiding cavity-induced loss. Using fast control of the qubits to switch the coupling effectively on and off, we demonstrate coherent transfer of quantum states between the qubits. The cavity is also used to perform multiplexed control and measurement of the qubit states. This approach can be expanded to more than two qubits, and is an attractive architecture for quantum information processing on a chip.

Resolving photon number states in a superconducting circuit.

Electromagnetic signals are always composed of photons, although in the circuit domain those signals are carried as voltages and currents on wires, and the discreteness of the photon's energy is usually not evident. However, by coupling a superconducting quantum bit (qubit) to signals on a microwave transmission line, it is possible to construct an integrated circuit in which the presence or absence of even a single photon can have a dramatic effect. Such a system can be described by circuit quantum electrodynamics (QED)-the circuit equivalent of cavity QED, where photons interact with atoms or quantum dots. Previously, circuit QED devices were shown to reach the resonant strong coupling regime, where a single qubit could absorb and re-emit a single photon many times. Here we report a circuit QED experiment in the strong dispersive limit, a new regime where a single photon has a large effect on the qubit without ever being absorbed. The hallmark of this strong dispersive regime is that the qubit transition energy can be resolved into a separate spectral line for each photon number state of the microwave field. The strength of each line is a measure of the probability of finding the corresponding photon number in the cavity. This effect is used to distinguish between coherent and thermal fields, and could be used to create a photon statistics analyser. As no photons are absorbed by this process, it should be possible to generate non-classical states of light by measurement and perform qubit-photon conditional logic, the basis of a logic bus for a quantum computer.

Generating single microwave photons in a circuit.

Microwaves have widespread use in classical communication technologies, from long-distance broadcasts to short-distance signals within a computer chip. Like all forms of light, microwaves, even those guided by the wires of an integrated circuit, consist of discrete photons. To enable quantum communication between distant parts of a quantum computer, the signals must also be quantum, consisting of single photons, for example. However, conventional sources can generate only classical light, not single photons. One way to realize a single-photon source is to collect the fluorescence of a single atom. Early experiments measured the quantum nature of continuous radiation, and further advances allowed triggered sources of photons on demand. To allow efficient photon collection, emitters are typically placed inside optical or microwave cavities, but these sources are difficult to employ for quantum communication on wires within an integrated circuit. Here we demonstrate an on-chip, on-demand single-photon source, where the microwave photons are injected into a wire with high efficiency and spectral purity. This is accomplished in a circuit quantum electrodynamics architecture, with a microwave transmission line cavity that enhances the spontaneous emission of a single superconducting qubit. When the qubit spontaneously emits, the generated photon acts as a flying qubit, transmitting the quantum information across a chip. We perform tomography of both the qubit and the emitted photons, clearly showing that both the quantum phase and amplitude are transferred during the emission. Both the average power and voltage of the photon source are characterized to verify performance of the system. This single-photon source is an important addition to a rapidly growing toolbox for quantum optics on a chip.

Superconducting qubit with Purcell protection and tunable coupling.

We present a superconducting qubit for the circuit quantum electrodynamics architecture that has a tunable qubit-resonator coupling strength g. This coupling can be tuned from zero to values that are comparable with other superconducting qubits. At g = 0, the qubit is in a decoherence-free subspace with respect to spontaneous emission induced by the Purcell effect. Furthermore, we show that in this decoherence-free subspace, the state of the qubit can still be measured by either a dispersive shift on the resonance frequency of the resonator or by a cycling-type measurement.

Tunable coupling in circuit quantum electrodynamics using a superconducting charge qubit with a V-shaped energy level diagram.

We introduce a new type of superconducting charge qubit that has a V-shaped energy spectrum and uses quantum interference to provide independently tunable qubit energy and coherent coupling to a superconducting cavity. Dynamic access to the strong coupling regime is demonstrated by tuning the coupling strength from less than 200 kHz to greater than 40 MHz. This tunable coupling can be used to protect the qubit from cavity-induced relaxation and avoid unwanted qubit-qubit interactions in a multiqubit system.

Dispersive photon blockade in a superconducting circuit.

Mediated photon-photon interactions are realized in a superconducting coplanar waveguide cavity coupled to a superconducting charge qubit. These nonresonant interactions blockade the transmission of photons through the cavity. This so-called dispersive photon blockade is characterized by measuring the total transmitted power while varying the energy spectrum of the photons incident on the cavity. A staircase with four distinct steps is observed and can be understood in an analogy with electron transport and the Coulomb blockade in quantum dots. This work differs from previous efforts in that the cavity-qubit excitations retain a photonic nature rather than a hybridization of qubit and photon and provides the needed tolerance to disorder for future condensed matter experiments.

A scanning transmon qubit for strong coupling circuit quantum electrodynamics.

Like a quantum computer designed for a particular class of problems, a quantum simulator enables quantitative modelling of quantum systems that is computationally intractable with a classical computer. Superconducting circuits have recently been investigated as an alternative system in which microwave photons confined to a lattice of coupled resonators act as the particles under study, with qubits coupled to the resonators producing effective photon-photon interactions. Such a system promises insight into the non-equilibrium physics of interacting bosons, but new tools are needed to understand this complex behaviour. Here we demonstrate the operation of a scanning transmon qubit and propose its use as a local probe of photon number within a superconducting resonator lattice. We map the coupling strength of the qubit to a resonator on a separate chip and show that the system reaches the strong coupling regime over a wide scanning area.

Superconducting coplanar waveguide resonators for low temperature pulsed electron spin resonance spectroscopy.

We discuss the design and implementation of thin film superconducting coplanar waveguide micro-resonators for pulsed electron spin resonance experiments. The performance of the resonators with P doped Si epilayer samples is compared to waveguide resonators under equivalent conditions. The high achievable filling factor even for small sized samples and the relatively high Q-factor result in a sensitivity of 4.5 × 10(8) spins per shot, which is superior to that of conventional waveguide resonators, in particular to spins close to the sample surface. The peak microwave power is on the order of a few milliwatts, which is compatible with measurements at ultra-low temperatures. We also discuss the effect of the nonuniform microwave magnetic field on the Hahn echo power dependence.

Randomized benchmarking and process tomography for gate errors in a solid-state qubit.

We present measurements of single-qubit gate errors for a superconducting qubit. Results from quantum process tomography and randomized benchmarking are compared with gate errors obtained from a double pi pulse experiment. Randomized benchmarking reveals a minimum average gate error of 1.1+/-0.3% and a simple exponential dependence of fidelity on the number of gates. It shows that the limits on gate fidelity are primarily imposed by qubit decoherence, in agreement with theory.

Controlling the spontaneous emission of a superconducting transmon qubit.

We present a detailed characterization of coherence in seven transmon qubits in a circuit QED architecture. We find that spontaneous emission rates are strongly influenced by far off-resonant modes of the cavity and can be understood within a semiclassical circuit model. A careful analysis of the spontaneous qubit decay into a microwave transmission-line cavity can accurately predict the qubit lifetimes over 2 orders of magnitude in time and more than an octave in frequency. Coherence times T1 and T_{2};{*} of more than a microsecond are reproducibly demonstrated.

Kondo effect in the presence of magnetic impurities.

We measure transport through gold grain quantum dots fabricated using electromigration, with magnetic impurities in the leads. A Kondo interaction is observed between dot and leads, but the presence of magnetic impurities results in a gate-dependent zero-bias conductance peak that is split due to a RKKY interaction between the spin of the dot and the static spins of the impurities. A magnetic field restores the single Kondo peak in the case of an antiferromagnetic RKKY interaction. This system provides a new platform to study Kondo and RKKY interactions in metals at the level of a single spin.

Kondo effect in electromigrated gold break junctions.

We present gate-dependent transport measurements of Kondo impurities in bare gold break junctions, generated with high yield using an electromigration process that is actively controlled. Thirty percent of measured devices show zero-bias conductance peaks. Temperature dependence suggests Kondo temperatures approximately 7 K. The peak splitting in magnetic field is consistent with theoretical predictions for g = 2, though in many devices the splitting is offset from 2g mu(B)B by a fixed energy. The Kondo resonances observed here may be due to atomic-scale metallic grains formed during electromigration.