arXiv subjects

M. Pechal

Publications and source records attributed to M. Pechal.

11 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2020

Characterization and tomography of a hidden qubit

In circuit-based quantum computing, the available gate set typically consists of single-qubit gates acting on each individual qubit and at least one entangling gate between pairs of qubits. In certain physical architectures, however, some qubits may be 'hidden' and lacking direct addressability through dedicated control and readout lines, for instance because of limited on-chip routing capabilities, or because the number of control lines becomes a limiting factor for many-qubit systems. In this case, no single-qubit operations can be applied to the hidden qubits and their state cannot be measured directly. Instead, they may be controlled and read out only via single-qubit operations on connected 'control' qubits and a suitable set of two-qubit gates. We first discuss the impact of such restricted control capabilities on the quantum volume of specific qubit coupling networks. We then experimentally demonstrate full control and measurement capabilities in a superconducting two-qubit device with local single-qubit control and iSWAP and controlled-phase two-qubit interactions enabled by a tunable coupler. We further introduce an iterative tune-up process required to completely characterize the gate set used for quantum process tomography and evaluate the resulting gate fidelities.

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arXiv2020

Benchmarking the noise sensitivity of different parametric two-qubit gates in a single superconducting quantum computing platform

The possibility to utilize different types of two-qubit gates on a single quantum computing platform adds flexibility in the decomposition of quantum algorithms. A larger hardware-native gate set may decrease the number of required gates, provided that all gates are realized with high fidelity. Here, we benchmark both controlled-Z (CZ) and exchange-type (iSWAP) gates using a parametrically driven tunable coupler that mediates the interaction between two superconducting qubits. Using randomized benchmarking protocols we estimate an error per gate of $0.9\pm0.03\%$ and $1.3\pm0.4\%$ fidelity for the CZ and the iSWAP gate, respectively. We argue that spurious $ZZ$-type couplings are the dominant error source for the iSWAP gate, and that phase stability of all microwave drives is of utmost importance. Such differences in the achievable fidelities for different two-qubit gates have to be taken into account when mapping quantum algorithms to real hardware.

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arXiv2017

Realizing Rapid, High-Fidelity, Single-Shot Dispersive Readout of Superconducting Qubits

The speed of quantum gates and measurements is a decisive factor for the overall fidelity of quantum protocols when performed on physical qubits with finite coherence time. Reducing the time required to distinguish qubit states with high fidelity is therefore a critical goal in quantum information science. The state-of-the-art readout of superconducting qubits is based on the dispersive interaction with a readout resonator. Here, we bring this technique to its current limit and demonstrate how the careful design of system parameters leads to fast and high-fidelity measurements without affecting qubit coherence. We achieve this result by increasing the dispersive interaction strength, by choosing an optimal linewidth of the readout resonator, by employing a Purcell filter, and by utilizing phase-sensitive parametric amplification. In our experiment, we measure 98.25% readout fidelity in only 48 ns, when minimizing read-out time, and 99.2% in 88 ns, when maximizing the fidelity, limited predominantly by the qubit lifetime of 7.6 us. The presented scheme is also expected to be suitable for integration into a multiplexed readout architecture.

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arXiv2016

Superconducting switch for fast on-chip routing of quantum microwave fields

A switch capable of routing microwave signals at cryogenic temperatures is a desirable component for state-of-the-art experiments in many fields of applied physics, including but not limited to quantum information processing, communication and basic research in engineered quantum systems. Conventional mechanical switches provide low insertion loss but disturb operation of dilution cryostats and the associated experiments by heat dissipation. Switches based on semiconductors or microelectromechanical systems have a lower thermal budget but are not readily integrated with current superconducting circuits. Here we design and test an on-chip switch built by combining tunable transmission-line resonators with microwave beam-splitters. The device is superconducting and as such dissipates a negligible amount of heat. It is compatible with current superconducting circuit fabrication techniques, operates with a bandwidth exceeding $100\,\mathrm{MHz}$, is capable of handling photon fluxes on the order of $10^{5}\,\mu\mathrm{s}^{-1}$, equivalent to powers exceeding $-90\,\mathrm{dBm}$, and can be switched within approximately $6-8\,\mathrm{ns}$. We successfully demonstrate operation of the device in the quantum regime by integrating it on a chip with a single-photon source and using it to route non-classical itinerant microwave fields at the single-photon level.

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arXiv2015

Measurement of geometric dephasing using a superconducting qubit

A quantum system interacting with its environment is subject to dephasing which ultimately destroys the information it holds. Using a superconducting qubit, we experimentally show that this dephasing has both dynamic and geometric origins. It is found that geometric dephasing, which is present even in the adiabatic limit and when no geometric phase is acquired, can either reduce or restore coherence depending on the orientation of the path the qubit traces out in its projective Hilbert space. It accompanies the evolution of any system in Hilbert space subjected to noise.

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arXiv2015

Microwave-Induced Amplitude and Phase Tunable Qubit-Resonator Coupling in Circuit Quantum Electrodynamics

In the circuit quantum electrodynamics architecture, both the resonance frequency and the coupling of superconducting qubits to microwave field modes can be controlled via external electric and magnetic fields to explore qubit -- photon dynamics in a wide parameter range. Here, we experimentally demonstrate and analyze a scheme for tuning the coupling between a transmon qubit and a microwave resonator using a single coherent drive tone. We treat the transmon as a three-level system with the qubit subspace defined by the ground and the second excited states. If the drive frequency matches the difference between the resonator and the qubit frequency, a Jaynes-Cummings type interaction is induced, which is tunable both in amplitude and phase. We show that coupling strengths of about 10 MHz can be achieved in our setup, limited only by the anharmonicity of the transmon qubit. This scheme has been successfully used to generate microwave photons with controlled temporal shape [Pechal et al., Phys. Rev. X 4, 041010 (2014)] and can be directly implemented with superconducting quantum devices featuring larger anharmonicity for higher coupling strengths.

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arXiv2014

Microwave-controlled generation of shaped single photons in circuit quantum electrodynamics

Large-scale quantum information processors or quantum communication networks will require reliable exchange of information between spatially separated nodes. The links connecting these nodes can be established using traveling photons that need to be absorbed at the receiving node with high efficiency. This is achievable by shaping the temporal profile of the photons and absorbing them at the receiver by time reversing the emission process. Here, we demonstrate a scheme for creating shaped microwave photons using a superconducting transmon-type three-level system coupled to a transmission line resonator. In a second-order process induced by a modulated microwave drive, we controllably transfer a single excitation from the third level of the transmon to the resonator and shape the emitted photon. We reconstruct the density matrices of the created single-photon states and show that the photons are antibunched. We also create multipeaked photons with a controlled amplitude and phase. In contrast to similar existing schemes, the one we present here is based solely on microwave drives, enabling operation with fixed frequency transmons.

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arXiv2013

Exploring the Effect of Noise on the Berry Phase

We make use of a superconducting qubit to study the effects of noise on adiabatic geometric phases. The state of the system, an effective spin one-half particle, is adiabatically guided along a closed path in parameter space and thereby acquires a geometric phase. By introducing artificial fluctuations in the control parameters, we measure the geometric contribution to dephasing for a variety of noise powers and evolution times. Our results clearly show that only fluctuations which distort the path lead to geometric dephasing. In a direct comparison with the dynamic phase, which is path-independent, we observe that the adiabatic geometric phase is less affected by noise-induced dephasing. This observation directly points towards the potential of geometric phases for quantum gates or metrological applications.

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arXiv2013

Experimental Realization of Non-Abelian Geometric Gates

The geometric aspects of quantum mechanics are underlined most prominently by the concept of geometric phases, which are acquired whenever a quantum system evolves along a closed path in Hilbert space. The geometric phase is determined only by the shape of this path and is -- in its simplest form -- a real number. However, if the system contains degenerate energy levels, matrix-valued geometric phases, termed non-abelian holonomies, can emerge. They play an important role for the creation of synthetic gauge fields in cold atomic gases and the description of non-abelian anyon statistics. Moreover, it has been proposed to exploit non-abelian holonomic gates for robust quantum computation. In contrast to abelian geometric phases, non-abelian ones have been observed only in nuclear quadrupole resonance experiments with a large number of spins and without fully characterizing the geometric process and its non-commutative nature. Here, we realize non-abelian holonomic quantum operations on a single superconducting artificial three-level atom by applying a well controlled two-tone microwave drive. Using quantum process tomography, we determine fidelities of the resulting non-commuting gates exceeding 95 %. We show that a sequence of two paths in Hilbert space traversed in different order yields inequivalent transformations, which is an evidence for the non-abelian character of the implemented holonomic quantum gates. In combination with two-qubit operations, they form a universal set of gates for holonomic quantum computation.

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arXiv2012

Geometric phases in superconducting qubits beyond the two-level-approximation

Geometric phases, which accompany the evolution of a quantum system and depend only on its trajectory in state space, are commonly studied in two-level systems. Here, however, we study the adiabatic geometric phase in a weakly anharmonic and strongly driven multi-level system, realised as a superconducting transmon-type circuit. We measure the contribution of the second excited state to the two-level geometric phase and find good agreement with theory treating higher energy levels perturbatively. By changing the evolution time, we confirm the independence of the geometric phase of time and explore the validity of the adiabatic approximation at the transition to the non-adiabatic regime.

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arXiv2011

Geometric Phase and Non-Adiabatic Effects in an Electronic Harmonic Oscillator

Steering a quantum harmonic oscillator state along cyclic trajectories leads to a path-dependent geometric phase. Here we describe an experiment observing this geometric phase in an electronic harmonic oscillator. We use a superconducting qubit as a non-linear probe of the phase, otherwise unobservable due to the linearity of the oscillator. Our results demonstrate that the geometric phase is, for a variety of cyclic trajectories, proportional to the area enclosed in the quadrature plane. At the transition to the non-adiabatic regime, we study corrections to the phase and dephasing of the qubit caused by qubit-resonator entanglement. The demonstrated controllability makes our system a versatile tool to study adiabatic and non-adiabatic geometric phases in open quantum systems and to investigate the potential of geometric gates for quantum information processing.

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