Prakritish Gogoi | Searcharxiv

arXiv2026

A comparison of different master equations for driven-dissipative dynamics in composite quantum systems: Dispersive readout in structured electromagnetic environments

Driven-dissipative qubit-resonator dynamics, which are the basis of most dispersive superconducting qubit measurement schemes, are often modeled with Lindblad master equations built from subsystem local jump operators, even when the qubit and resonator are appreciably hybridized. In this work we revisit this setting using a microscopic Bloch-Redfield approach, where dissipation is constructed in the eigenbasis of the coupled qubit-resonator Hamiltonian with a complete, frequency dependent, open system description of the transmission line environment. Here, we show that the Lindblad and Bloch-Redfield decay rates can be quantitatively different in the absence of driving, while in the driven case we demonstrate that the time-independent Redfield dissipator and its time-dependent generalization can show qualitatively different behaviors as a function of driving strength. Finally, we investigate the effects of driving in structured spectral densities, recovering the suppression of measurement-induced relaxation in the presence of a so called Purcell filter.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2026

First-principles study of dispersive readout in circuit QED

The speed and fidelity of dispersive readout of superconducting qubits should improve by increasing the amplitude of the measurement drive. Experiments show, however, that beyond some drive amplitude there is always a saturation or drop in fidelity, often associated with a decrease in qubit energy relaxation time $T_1$. A simple Lindblad master equation does not capture the latter effect. More involved approaches based on effective master equations rely on strong assumptions about the spectra of the system and the bath and only partially agree with observations. Here, we perform a first-principles simulation of the full unitary dynamics of dispersive readout by considering the circuit QED Hamiltonian coupled to a microscopic model for the measurement transmission line, allowing for its arbitrary spectrum, including filters. Our access to the dynamics of the bath degrees of freedom allows us to investigate the emission spectrum of the system as a function of drive power. We show how the dependence of qubit $T_1$ on readout drive amplitude is sensitive to the details of the bath spectrum. In particular, we find that $T_1$ drops with increasing drive amplitude when a Purcell notch filter is placed at the qubit frequency, and that the Lindblad master equation shows general qualitative defects compared to the first-principles model.

quant-ph↗