arXiv subjects

Kouichi Semba

Publications and source records attributed to Kouichi Semba.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Enabling Technologies for Scalable Superconducting Quantum Computing

Experiments with superconducting quantum processors have successfully demonstrated the basic functions needed for quantum computation and evidence of utility, albeit without a sizable array of error-corrected qubits. The realization of the full potential of quantum computing centers on achieving large scale fault-tolerant quantum computers. Science, engineering and industry advances are needed to robustly generate, sustain, and efficiently manipulate an exponentially large computational (Hilbert) space as well as supply the number and quality components needed for such a scaled system. In this article, we suggest critical areas of quantum system and ecosystem development, with respect to the handling and transmission of quantum information within and out of a cryogenic environment, that would accelerate the development of quantum computers based on superconducting circuits.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Superconducting flux qubit with ferromagnetic Josephson $\pi$-junction operating at zero magnetic field

Conventional superconducting flux qubits require the application of a precisely tuned magnetic field to set the operation point at half a flux quantum through the qubit loop, which complicates the on-chip integration of this type of device. It has been proposed that by inducing a $\pi$-phase shift in the superconducting order parameter using a precisely controlled nanoscale-thickness superconductor/ferromagnet/superconductor Josephson junction, commonly referred to as $\pi$-junction, it is possible to realize a flux qubit operating at zero magnetic flux. Here, we report the realization of a zero-flux-biased flux qubit based on three NbN/AlN/NbN Josephson junctions and a NbN/PdNi/NbN ferromagnetic $\pi$-junction. The qubit lifetime is in the microsecond range, which we argue is limited by quasiparticle excitations in the metallic ferromagnet layer. Our results pave the way for developing quantum coherent devices, including qubits and sensors, that utilize the interplay between ferromagnetism and superconductivity.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2023

Quantum circuit synthesis via a random combinatorial search

We use a random search technique to find quantum gate sequences that implement perfect quantum state preparation or unitary operator synthesis with arbitrary targets. This approach is based on the recent discovery that there is a large multiplicity of quantum circuits that achieve unit fidelity in performing a given target operation, even at the minimum number of single-qubit and two-qubit gates needed to achieve unit fidelity. We show that the fraction of perfect-fidelity quantum circuits increases rapidly as soon as the circuit size exceeds the minimum circuit size required for achieving unit fidelity. This result implies that near-optimal quantum circuits for a variety of quantum information processing tasks can be identified relatively easily by trying only a few randomly chosen quantum circuits and optimizing their parameters. In addition to analyzing the case where the CNOT gate is the elementary two-qubit gate, we consider the possibility of using alternative two-qubit gates. In particular, we analyze the case where the two-qubit gate is the B gate, which is known to reduce the minimum quantum circuit size for two-qubit operations. We apply the random search method to the problem of decomposing the 4-qubit Toffoli gate and find a 15 CNOT-gate decomposition.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2023

Controlling qubit-oscillator systems using linear parameter sweeps

We investigate the dynamics of a qubit-oscillator system under the influence of a linear sweep of system parameters. We consider two main cases. In the first case, we consider sweeping the parameters between the regime of a weakly correlated ground state and the regime of a strongly correlated ground state, a situation that can be viewed as a finite-duration quench between two phases of matter: the normal phase and the superradiant phase. Excitations are created as a result of this quench. We investigate the dependence of the excitation probabilities on the various parameters. We find a qualitative asymmetry in the dynamics between the cases of a normal-to-superradiant and superradiant-to-normal quench. The second case of parameter sweeps that we investigate is the problem of a Landau-Zener sweep in the qubit bias term for a qubit coupled to a harmonic oscillator. We analyze a theoretical formula based on the assumption that the dynamics can be decomposed into a sequence of independent Landau-Zener transitions. In addition to establishing the conditions of validity for the theoretical formula, we find that under suitable conditions, deterministic and robust multi-photon state preparation is possible in this system.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2023

High-frequency suppression of inductive coupling between flux qubit and transmission line resonator

We perform theoretical calculations to investigate the naturally occurring high-frequency cutoff in a circuit comprising a flux qubit coupled inductively to a transmission line resonator (TLR). Specifically, a decoupling occurs between the qubit and the high-frequency modes. The coupling strength between the qubit and resonator modes increases with mode frequency $\omega$ as $\sqrt{\omega}$ at low frequencies and decreases as $1/\sqrt{\omega}$ at high frequencies. This result is similar to those of past studies that considered somewhat similar circuit designs. By avoiding the approximation of ignoring the qubit-TLR coupling in certain steps in the analysis, we obtain effects not captured in previous studies. In particular, we obtain a resonance effect that shifts the TLR mode frequencies close to qubit oscillation frequencies. We derive expressions for the TLR mode frequencies, qubit-TLR coupling strengths and qubit Lamb shift. We identify features in the spectrum of the system that can be used in future experiments to test and validate the theoretical model.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2023

Extremely large Lamb shift in a deep-strongly coupled circuit QED system with a multimode resonator

We report experimental and theoretical results on the extremely large Lamb shift in a multimode circuit quantum electrodynamics (QED) system in the deep-strong coupling (DSC) regime, where the qubit-resonator coupling strength is comparable to or larger than the qubit and resonator frequencies. The system comprises a superconducting flux qubit (FQ) and a quarter-wavelength coplanar waveguide resonator ($λ/4$ CPWR) that are coupled inductively through a shared edge that contains a Josephson junction to achieve the DSC regime. Spectroscopy is performed around the frequency of the fundamental mode of the CPWR, and the spectrum is fitted by the single-mode quantum Rabi Hamiltonian to obtain the system parameters. Since the qubit is also coupled to a large number of higher modes in the resonator, the single-mode fitting does not provide the bare qubit energy but a value that incorporates the renormalization from all the other modes. We derive theoretical formulas for the Lamb shift in the multimode resonator system. As shown in previous studies, there is a cut-off frequency $ω_{\rm{cutoff}}$ for the coupling between the FQ and the modes in the CPWR, where the coupling grows as $\sqrt{ω_n}$ for $ω_n/ω_{\rm{cutoff}}\ll 1$ and decreases as $1/\sqrt{ω_n}$ for $ω_n/ω_{\rm{cutoff}}\gg 1$. Here $ω_n$ is the frequency of the $n$th mode. The cut-off effect occurs because the qubit acts as an obstacle for the current in the resonator, which suppresses the current of the modes above $ω_{\rm{cutoff}}$ at the location of the qubit and results in a reduced coupling strength. Using our observed spectrum and theoretical formulas, we estimate that the Lamb shift from the fundamental mode is 82.3\% and the total Lamb shift from all the modes is 96.5\%.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2022

Numerical analysis of quantum circuits for state preparation and unitary operator synthesis

We perform optimal-control-theory calculations to determine the minimum number of two-qubit CNOT gates needed to perform quantum state preparation and unitary operator synthesis for few-qubit systems. By considering all possible gate configurations, we determine the maximum achievable fidelity as a function of quantum circuit size. This information allows us to identify the minimum circuit size needed for a specific target operation and enumerate the different gate configurations that allow a perfect implementation of the operation. We find that there are a large number of configurations that all produce the desired result, even at the minimum number of gates. We also show that the number of entangling gates can be reduced if we use multi-qubit entangling gates instead of two-qubit CNOT gates, as one might expect based on parameter counting calculations. In addition to treating the general case of arbitrary target states or unitary operators, we apply the numerical approach to the special case of synthesizing the multi-qubit Toffoli gate. This approach can be used to investigate any other specific few-qubit task and provides insight into the tightness of different bounds in the literature.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2022

Hamiltonian of a flux qubit-LC oscillator circuit in the deep-strong-coupling regime

We derive the Hamiltonian of a superconducting circuit that comprises a single-Josephson-junction flux qubit inductively coupled to an LC oscillator, and we compare the derived circuit Hamiltonian with the quantum Rabi Hamiltonian, which describes a two-level system coupled to a harmonic oscillator. We show that there is a simple, intuitive correspondence between the circuit Hamiltonian and the quantum Rabi Hamiltonian. While there is an overall shift of the entire spectrum, the energy level structure of the circuit Hamiltonian up to the seventh excited states can still be fitted well by the quantum Rabi Hamiltonian even in the case where the coupling strength is larger than the frequencies of the qubit and the oscillator, i.e., when the qubit-oscillator circuit is in the deep-strong-coupling regime. We also show that although the circuit Hamiltonian can be transformed via a unitary transformation to a Hamiltonian containing a capacitive coupling term, the resulting circuit Hamiltonian cannot be approximated by the variant of the quantum Rabi Hamiltonian that is obtained using an analogous procedure for mapping the circuit variables onto Pauli and harmonic oscillator operators, even for relatively weak coupling. This difference between the flux and charge gauges follows from the properties of the qubit Hamiltonian eigenstates.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2022

Speed limits for two-qubit gates with weakly anharmonic qubits

We consider the implementation of two-qubit gates when the physical systems used to realize the qubits possess additional quantum states in the accessible energy range. We use optimal control theory to determine the maximum achievable gate speed for two-qubit gates in the qubit subspace of the many-level Hilbert space, and we analyze the effect of the additional quantum states on the gate speed. We identify two competing mechanisms. On one hand, higher energy levels are generally more strongly coupled to each other. Under suitable conditions, this stronger coupling can be utilized to make two-qubit gates significantly faster than the reference value based on simple qubits. On the other hand, a weak anharmonicity constrains the speed at which the system can be adequately controlled: according to the intuitive picture, faster operations require stronger control fields, which are more likely to excite higher levels in a weakly anharmonic system, which in turn leads to faster decoherence and uncontrolled leakage outside the qubit space. In order to account for this constraint, we modify the pulse optimization algorithm to avoid pulses that lead to appreciable population of the higher levels. In this case we find that the presence of the higher levels can lead to a significant reduction in the maximum achievable gate speed. We also compare the optimal-control gate speeds with those obtained using the cross-resonance/selective-darkening gate protocol. We find that the latter, with some parameter optimization, can be used to achieve a relatively fast implementation of the CNOT gate. These results can help the search for optimized gate implementations in realistic quantum computing architectures, such as those based on superconducting circuits. They also provide guidelines for desirable conditions on anharmonicity that allow optimal utilization of the higher levels to achieve fast quantum gates.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2021

Enhanced coherence of all-nitride superconducting qubits epitaxially grown on silicon substrate

Improving the coherence of superconducting qubits is a fundamental step towards the realization of fault-tolerant quantum computation. However, coherence times of quantum circuits made from conventional aluminium-based Josephson junctions are limited by the presence of microscopic two-level systems in the amorphous aluminum oxide tunnel barriers. Here, we have developed superconducting qubits based on NbN/AlN/NbN epitaxial Josephson junctions on silicon substrates which promise to overcome the drawbacks of qubits based on Al/AlO$_{x}$/Al junctions. The all-nitride qubits have great advantages such as chemical stability against oxidation, resulting in fewer two-level fluctuators, feasibility for epitaxial tunnel barriers that reduce energy relaxation and dephasing, and a larger superconducting gap of $\sim$5.2 meV for NbN, compared to $\sim$0.3 meV for aluminium, which suppresses the excitation of quasiparticles. By replacing conventional MgO by a silicon substrate with a TiN buffer layer for epitaxial growth of nitride junctions, we demonstrate a qubit energy relaxation time $T$$_{1}$=16.3 $μ$s and a spin-echo dephasing time $T$$_{2}$=21.5 $μ$s. These significant improvements in quantum coherence are explained by the reduced dielectric loss compared to previously reported NbN-based qubits with MgO substrates ($T$$_{1}$$\approx$$T$$_{2}$$\approx$0.5 $μ$s). These results are an important step towards constructing a new platform for superconducting quantum hardware.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2021

Deterministic three-photon down-conversion by a passive ultrastrong cavity-QED system

In ultra- and deep-strong cavity quantum electrodynamics (QED) systems, many intriguing phenomena that do not conserve the excitation number are expected to occur. In this study, we theoretically analyze the optical response of an ultrastrong cavity-QED system in which an atom is coupled to the fundamental and third harmonic modes of a cavity, and report the possibility of deterministic three-photon down-conversion of itinerant photons upon reflection at the cavity. In the conventional parametric down-conversion, a strong input field is needed because of the smallness of the transition matrix elements of the higher order processes. However, if we use an atom-cavity system in an unprecedentedly strong-coupling region, even a weak field in the linear-response regime is sufficient to cause this rare event involving the fourth order transitions.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2021

Nonclassicality of open circuit QED systems in the deep-strong coupling regime

We investigate theoretically how the ground state of a qubit-resonator system in the deep-strong coupling (DSC) regime is affected by the coupling to an environment. We employ as a variational ansatz for the ground state of the qubit-resonator-environment system a superposition of coherent states displaced in qubit-state-dependent directions. We show that the reduced density matrix of the qubit-resonator system strongly depends on how the system is coupled to the environment, i.e., capacitive or inductive, because of the broken rotational symmetry of the eigenstates of the DSC system in the resonator phase space. When the resonator couples to the qubit and the environment in different ways (for instance, one is inductive and the other is capacitive), the system is almost unaffected by the resonator-waveguide coupling. In contrast, when the two couplings are of the same type (for instance, both are inductive), by increasing the resonator-waveguide coupling strength, the average number of virtual photons increases and the quantum superposition realized in the qubit-resonator entangled ground state is partially degraded. Since the superposition becomes more fragile with increasing the qubit-resonator coupling, there exists an optimal coupling strength to maximize the nonclassicality of the qubit-resonator system.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2018

Inversion of Qubit Energy Levels in Qubit-Oscillator Circuits in the Deep-Strong-Coupling Regime

We report on experimentally measured light shifts of superconducting flux qubits deep-strongly coupled to LC oscillators, where the coupling constants are comparable to the qubit and oscillator resonance frequencies. By using two-tone spectroscopy, the energies of the six lowest levels of each circuit are determined. We find huge Lamb shifts that exceed 90% of the bare qubit frequencies and inversions of the qubits' ground and excited states when there are a finite number of photons in the oscillator. Our experimental results agree with theoretical predictions based on the quantum Rabi model.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2017

Characteristic spectra of circuit quantum electrodynamics systems from the ultrastrong- to the deep-strong-coupling regime

We report on spectra of circuit-quantum-electrodynamics (QED) systems in an intermediate regime that lies between the ultrastrong and deep-strong-coupling regimes, which have been reported previously in the literature. Our experimental results, along with numerical simulations, demonstrate that as the coupling strength increases, the spectrum of a circuit-QED system undergoes multiple qualitative transformations, such that several coupling regimes are identified, each with its own unique spectral features. The different spectral transformations can be related to crossings between energy level differences and to changes in the symmetries of the energy eigenstates. These results allow us to use qualitative spectral features to infer certain properties and parameters of the system.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2017

Superconducting qubit-oscillator circuit beyond the ultrastrong-coupling regime

The interaction between an atom and the electromagnetic field inside a cavity has played a crucial role in the historical development of our understanding of light-matter interaction and is a central part of various quantum technologies, such as lasers and many quantum computing architectures. The emergence of superconducting qubits has allowed the realization of strong and ultrastrong coupling between artificial atoms and cavities. If the coupling strength $g$ becomes as large as the atomic and cavity frequencies ($Δ$ and $ω_{\rm o}$ respectively), the energy eigenstates including the ground state are predicted to be highly entangled. This qualitatively new regime can be called the deep strong-coupling regime, and there has been an ongoing debate over whether it is fundamentally possible to realize this regime in realistic physical systems. By inductively coupling a flux qubit and an LC oscillator via Josephson junctions, we have realized circuits with $g/ω_{\rm o}$ ranging from 0.72 to 1.34 and $g/Δ\gg 1$. Using spectroscopy measurements, we have observed unconventional transition spectra, with patterns resembling masquerade masks, that are characteristic of this new regime. Our results provide a basis for ground-state-based entangled-pair generation and open a new direction of research on strongly correlated light-matter states in circuit-quantum electrodynamics.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2016

Hybrid quantum magnetic field sensor with an electron spin and a nuclear spin in diamond

Recently, magnetic field sensors based on an electron spin of a nitrogen vacancy (NV) center in diamond have been studied both from an experimental and theoretical point of view. This system provides a nanoscale magnetometer, and it is possible to detect a precession of a single spin. In this paper, we propose a sensor consisting of an electron spin and a nuclear spin in diamond. Although the electron spin has a reasonable interaction strength with magnetic field, the coherence time of the spin is relatively short. On the other hand, the nuclear spin has a longer life time while the spin has a negligible interaction with magnetic fields. We show that, through the combination of such two different spins via the hyperfine interaction, it is possible to construct a magnetic field sensor with the sensitivity far beyond that of previous sensors using just a single electron spin.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2016

Observation of collective coupling between an engineered ensemble of macroscopic artificial atoms and a superconducting resonator

The hybridization of distinct quantum systems is now seen as an effective way to engineer the properties of an entire system leading to applications in quantum metamaterials, quantum simulation, and quantum metrology. One well known example is superconducting circuits coupled to ensembles of microscopic natural atoms. In such cases, the properties of the individual atom are intrinsic, and so are unchangeable. However, current technology allows us to fabricate large ensembles of macroscopic artificial atoms such as superconducting flux qubits, where we can really tailor and control the properties of individual qubits. Here, we demonstrate coherent coupling between a microwave resonator and several thousand superconducting flux qubits, where we observe a large dispersive frequency shift in the spectrum of 250 MHz induced by collective behavior. These results represent the largest number of coupled superconducting qubits realized so far. Our approach shows that it is now possible to engineer the properties of the ensemble, opening up the way for the controlled exploration of the quantum many-body system.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2015

Optically detected magnetic resonance of high-density ensemble of NV centers in diamond

Optically detected magnetic resonance (ODMR) is a way to characterize the NV centers. Recently, a remarkably sharp dip was observed in the ODMR with a high-density ensemble of NV centers, and this was reproduced by a theoretical model in [Zhu et al., Nature Communications 5, 3424 (2014)], showing that the dip is a consequence of the spin-1 properties of the NV centers. Here, we present much more details of analysis to show how this model can be applied to investigate the properties of the NV centers. By using our model, we have reproduced the ODMR with and without applied magnetic fields. Also, we theoretically investigate how the ODMR is affected by the typical parameters of the ensemble NV centers such as strain distributions, inhomogeneous magnetic fields, and homogeneous broadening width. Our model could provide a way to estimate these parameters from the ODMR, which would be crucial to realize diamond-based quantum information processing.

quant-ph↗