arXiv subjects

P. Joyez

Publications and source records attributed to P. Joyez.

18 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2021

Emission of photon multiplets by a dc-biased superconducting circuit

We observe the emission of bunches of $k \geqslant 1$ photons by a circuit made of a microwave resonator in series with a voltage-biased tunable Josephson junction. The bunches are emitted at specific values $V_k$ of the bias voltage, for which each Cooper pair tunneling across the junction creates exactly k photons in the resonator. The latter is a micro-fabricated spiral coil which resonates and leaks photons at 4.4~GHz in a measurement line. Its characteristic impedance of 1.97~k$\Omega$ is high enough to reach a strong junction-resonator coupling and a bright emission of the k-photon bunches. We show that a RWA treatment of the system accounts quantitatively for the observed radiation intensity, from $k=1$ to $6$, and over three orders of magnitude when varying the Josephson energy $E_J$. We also measure the second order correlation function of the radiated microwave to determine its Fano factor $F_k$, which in the low $E_J$ limit, confirms with $F_k=k$ the emission of $k$ photon bunches. At larger $E_J$, a more complex behavior is observed in quantitative agreement with numerical simulations.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2020

Generating two continuous entangled microwave beams using a dc-biased Josephson junction

We show experimentally that a dc-biased Josephson junction in series with two microwave resonators emits entangled beams of microwaves leaking out of the resonators. In the absence of a stationary phase reference for characterizing the entanglement of the outgoing beams, we measure second-order coherence functions for proving entanglement up to an emission rate of 2.5 billion photon pairs per second. The experimental results are found in quantitative agreement with theory, proving that the low frequency noise of the dc bias is the main limitation for the coherence time of the entangled beams. This agreement allows us to evaluate the entropy of entanglement of the resonators, and to identify the improvements that could bring this device closer to a useful bright source of entangled microwaves for quantum-technological applications.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2019

Antibunched photons emitted by a dc biased Josephson junction

We show experimentally that a dc biased Josephson junction in series with a high-enough impedance microwave resonator emits antibunched photons. Our resonator is made of a simple micro-fabricated spiral coil that resonates at 4.4 GHz and reaches a 1.97 k$Ω$ characteristic impedance. The second order correlation function of the power leaking out of the resonator drops down to 0.3 at zero delay, which demonstrates the antibunching of the photons emitted by the circuit at a rate of 6 $10^7$ photons per second. Results are found in quantitative agreement with our theoretical predictions. This simple scheme could offer an efficient and bright single-photon source in the microwave domain.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2017

Quantum limited amplification from inelastic Cooper pair tunneling

Nature sets fundamental limits regarding how accurate the amplification of analog signals may be. For instance, a linear amplifier unavoidably adds some noise which amounts to half a photon at best. While for most applications much higher noise levels are acceptable, the readout of microwave quantum systems, such as spin or superconducting qubits, requires noise as close as possible to this ultimate limit. To date, it is approached only by parametric amplifiers exploiting non-linearities in superconducting circuits and driven by a strong microwave pump tone. However, this microwave drive makes them much more difficult to implement and operate than conventional DC powered amplifiers, which so far suffer from much higher noise. Here we present the first experimental proof that a simple DC-powered setup allows for amplification close to the quantum limit. Our amplification scheme is based on the stimulated microwave photon emission accompanying inelastic Cooper pair tunneling through a DC-biased Josephson junction, with the key to low noise lying in a well defined auxiliary idler mode, in analogy to parametric amplifiers.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2016

Interacting electrodynamics of short coherent conductors in quantum circuits

When combining lumped mesoscopic electronic components to form a circuit, quantum fluctuations of electrical quantities lead to a non-linear electromagnetic interaction between the components that is not generally understood. The Landauer-Büttiker formalism that is frequently used to describe non-interacting coherent mesoscopic components is not directly suited to describe such circuits since it assumes perfect voltage bias, i.e. the absence of fluctuations. Here, we show that for short coherent conductors of arbitrary transmission, the Landauer-Büttiker formalism can be extended to take into account quantum voltage fluctuations similarly to what is done for tunnel junctions. The electrodynamics of the whole circuit is then formally worked out disregarding the non-Gaussianity of fluctuations. This reveals how the aforementioned non-linear interaction operates in short coherent conductors: voltage fluctuations induce a reduction of conductance through the phenomenon of dynamical Coulomb blockade but they also modify their internal density of states leading to an additional electrostatic modification of the transmission. Using this approach we can account quantitatively for conductance measurements performed on Quantum Point Contacts in series with impedances of the order of $R_K = h / e^2$. Our work should enable a better engineering of quantum circuits with targeted properties.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2015

Coherent manipulation of Andreev states in superconducting atomic contacts

Coherent control of quantum states has been demonstrated in a variety of superconducting devices. In all these devices, the variables that are manipulated are collective electromagnetic degrees of freedom: charge, superconducting phase, or flux. Here, we demonstrate the coherent manipulation of a quantum system based on Andreev bound states, which are microscopic quasiparticle states inherent to superconducting weak links. Using a circuit quantum electrodynamics setup we perform single-shot readout of this "Andreev qubit". We determine its excited state lifetime and coherence time to be in the microsecond range. Quantum jumps and parity switchings are observed in continuous measurements. In addition to possible quantum information applications, such Andreev qubits are a testbed for the physics of single elementary excitations in superconductors.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2015

Fluctuation-Dissipation Relations of a Tunnel Junction Driven by a Quantum Circuit

We derive fluctuation-dissipation relations for a tunnel junction driven by a high impedance microwave resonator, displaying strong quantum fluctuations. We find that the fluctuation-dissipation relations derived for classical forces hold, provided the effect of the circuit's quantum fluctuations is incorporated into a modified non-linear $I(V)$ curve. We also demonstrate that all quantities measured under a coherent time dependent bias can be reconstructed from their dc counterpart with a photo-assisted tunneling relation. We confirm these predictions by implementing the circuit and measuring the dc current through the junction, its high frequency admittance and its current noise at the frequency of the resonator.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2014

Dynamical Coulomb Blockade of Shot Noise

We observe the suppression of the finite frequency shot-noise produced by a voltage biased tunnel junction due to its interaction with a single electromagnetic mode of high impedance. The tunnel junction is embedded in a quarter wavelength resonator containing a dense SQUID array providing it with a characteristic impedance in the kOhms range and a resonant frequency tunable in the 4-6 GHz range. Such high impedance gives rise to a sizeable Coulomb blockade on the tunnel junction (roughly 30% reduction in the differential conductance) and allows an efficient measurement of the spectral density of the current fluctuations at the resonator frequency. The observed blockade of shot-noise is found in agreement with an extension of the dynamical Coulomb blockade theory.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2012

Superconducting Quantum Point Contacts

We review our experiments on the electronic transport properties of atomic contacts between metallic electrodes, in particular superconducting ones. Despite ignorance of the exact atomic configuration, these ultimate quantum point contacts can be manipulated and well characterized in-situ. They allow performing fundamental tests of the scattering theory of quantum transport. In particular, we discuss the case of the Josephson effect.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2008

Phase controlled superconducting proximity effect probed by tunneling spectroscopy

Using a dual-mode STM-AFM microscope operating below 50mK we measured the Local Density of States (LDoS) along small normal wires connected at both ends to superconductors with different phases. We observe that a uniform minigap can develop in the whole normal wire and in the superconductors near the interfaces. The minigap depends periodically on the phase difference. The quasiclassical theory of superconductivity applied to a simplified 1D model geometry accounts well for the data.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2007

Micro-fabricated electromagnetic filters for millikelvin experiments

In this article we report on the design, fabrication and tests of micro-fabricated broadband filters suitable for proper electromagnetic thermalization of electrical lines connected to sensitive quantum electronics experiments performed at dilution fridge temperatures. Compared to previous such miniature filters, the new design improves on performance and reliability. These filters can be packed in space-saving cases with either single or multi-contact connectors. Measured performance in the accessible range compares well to simulations. We use these simulations to discuss the effectiveness of these filters for electromagnetic thermalization at 30 mK.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2007

Room-temperature tunnel current amplifier and experimental setup for high resolution electronic spectroscopy in millikelvin STM experiments

The spectroscopic resolution of tunneling measurements performed with a scanning tunneling microscope is ultimately limited by the temperature at which the experiment is performed. To take advantage of the potential high spectroscopic resolution associated with operating an STM in a dilution refrigerator we have designed a room temperature tunnel current amplifier having very small back-action on the tunnel contact and allowing to nearly reach the predicted energy resolution. This design is a modification of the standard op-amp based tip-biasing current-voltage converter which implements differential voltage sensing and whose back action on the tip voltage is only ~2 $μ$V rms for a 14 MV/A transimpedance and 22 kHz bandwidth.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2006

Superconducting atomic contacts under microwave irradiation

We have measured the effect of microwave irradiation on the dc current-voltage characteristics of superconducting atomic contacts. The interaction of the external field with the ac supercurrents leads to replicas of the supercurrent peak, the well known Shapiro resonances. The observation of supplementary fractional resonances for contacts containing highly transmitting conduction channels reveals their non-sinusoidal current-phase relation. The resonances sit on a background current which is itself deeply modified, as a result of photon assisted multiple Andreev reflections. The results provide firm support for the full quantum theory of transport between two superconductors based on the concept of Andreev bound states.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2005

Decoherence in a superconducting quantum bit circuit

Decoherence in quantum bit circuits is presently a major limitation to their use for quantum computing purposes. We present experiments, inspired from NMR, that characterise decoherence in a particular superconducting quantum bit circuit, the quantronium. We introduce a general framework for the analysis of decoherence, based on the spectral densities of the noise sources coupled to the qubit. Analysis of our measurements within this framework indicates a simple model for the noise sources acting on the qubit. We discuss various methods to fight decoherence.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2004

NMR-like control of a quantum bit superconducting circuit

Different nanofabricated superconducting circuits based on Josephson junctions have already achieved a degree of quantum coherence sufficient to demonstrate coherent superpositions of their quantum states. These circuits are considered for implementing quantum bits, which are the building blocks for the recently proposed quantum computer designs. We report experiments in which the state of a quantum bit circuit, the quantronium, is efficiently manipulated using methods inspired from Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR).

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2002

Rabi oscillations, Ramsey fringes and spin echoes in an electrical circuit

We present a superconducting tunnel junction circuit which behaves as a controllable atom, and whose ground and first excited state form an effective spin 1/2. By applying microwave pulses, we have performed on this circuit experiments demonstrating the controlled manipulation of the spin : Rabi precession, Ramsey interferences, and spin echoes.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2002

Manipulating the Quantum State of an Electrical Circuit

We have designed and operated a superconducting tunnel junction circuit that behaves as a two-level atom: the ``quantronium''. An arbitrary evolution of its quantum state can be programmed with a series of microwave pulses, and a projective measurement of the state can be performed by a pulsed readout sub-circuit. The measured quality factor of quantum coherence Qphi=25000 is sufficiently high that a solid-state quantum processor based on this type of circuit can be envisioned.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2000

Conduction channels of superconducting quantum point contacts

Atomic quantum point contacts accommodate a small number of conduction channels. Their number N and transmission coefficients {T_n} can be determined by analyzing the subgap structure due to multiple Andreev reflections in the current-voltage (IV) characteristics in the superconducting state. With the help of mechanically controllable break-junctions we have produced Al contacts consisting of a small number of atoms. In the smallest stable contacts, usually three channels contribute to the transport. We show here that the channel ensemble {T_n} of few atom contacts remains unchanged up to temperatures and magnetic fields approaching the critical temperature and the critical field, respectively, giving experimental evidence for the prediction that the conduction channels are the same in the normal and in the superconducting state.

cond-mat.supr-con↗